Photo Caption: Baseball takes center stage now that football and basketball have reached the end of their seasons. Brno Draci (shown above) and Cardion Hroši Brno will face each other June 4-6. Photo Credit: Ladislav Svěnčík.
Brno, May 26 (BD) — Zbrojovka beats Opava in final home game in top league and Basket Brno looks to future with young players.
BASEBALL
Baseball Starts to Heat Up
As local sports settle into the summer mode, baseball will take center stage. Currently the local teams, Brno Draci (11-7) and Cardion Hroši Brno (12-9), are in the middle of the baseball extraliga standings.
There are two more weekends in the first phase of the season. Then, the top six teams will be separated into an advanced group to fight it out for postseason positioning over the rest of the summer. Both Brno teams appear to be in line to make that upper group.
Arrows Ostrava (16-5), which is leading the league, beat the defending-champion Draci two games out of three last weekend in a rematch of last year’s championship series. The series started with Brno up 7-0 in Game 1, but ended in a 9-7 Ostrava victory. Clearly, the rivalry is primed for continuing excitement.
Meanwhile, last weekend Hroši Brno beat Sokol Hluboká (13-7) two of three times. Martin Dvorak hit a grand slam in the second game for Brno.
The Draci have a series against second-place Eagles Praha (14-7) this weekend. Hroši Brno will play Blesk Jablonec (6-13).
Then, in the final weekend of play, the Brno teams will meet: in South Brno on Friday (June 4) at 7 p.m.,
in Jundrov on Saturday (June 5) at 1 p.m.; and back in South Brno on Sunday (June 6) at 1 p.m.
For updated information and the schedule for Czech extraliga baseball, go to the league website at https://extraliga.baseball.cz/. Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
MEN’S FOOTBALL
Zbrojovka Wins Final Home Game
Though FC Zbrojovka will return to the second league next season, they saved a little bit of pride when they beat last-place Opava, 4-1, on Sunday.
They finish their season in the Fortuna Liga at second-place Sparta Praha on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Zbrojovka was in the second league for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. They finished second in the second league last year, but got promoted along with league-winner FK Pardubice when the leagues were restructured in response to the disruptions caused by the pandemic. Brno is among three teams that will move down to even out the two leagues at 16-teams again.
For updated information and the schedule for FC Zbrojovka Brno games, go to the league website at https://www.fortunaliga.cz/. The team website is at https://fczbrno.cz/. Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Basket Brno Completes Best Season
Basket Brno reached the postseason for the first time this season. They won their first postseason series when they outlasted USK Praha. And they finished 2020-21 as the fourth-place team in the NBL.
Brno was swept by perennial Czech basketball champion ERA Basketball Nymburk in the semifinals. Then, in the series for third-place, lost at home to GEOSAN Kolín, 85-92, on Friday, then on the road in Kolín, 90-89, on Sunday.
Brno, which actually beat Kolín in the first game of the season, was hampered by injuries to key players throughout the postseason, was able to showcase several young players.
Surely, it will pay off next season and well into the future.
For updated information and the schedule for Basket Brno games, go to the league website at https://www.nbl.cz/. The team website is: https://basketbrno.cz/. Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
