Champion in Baseball-Bundesliga will be crowned on Sunday

Tornados and Heidekoepfe tied 1-1 after first two games

The 2009 season in the Baseball-Bundesliga will end this Sunday with Mannheim or Heidenheim celebrating the title. The best-of-five-series between the two southern-division teams is tied 1-1 after two games and will be continued at the Roberto Clemente Field this weekend, home of the Tornados.

The first two matches of the duel were dominated by each team’s top starters. In game one Martin Dewald picked up his sixth win of the 2009 playoffs with a complete game win, leading Mannheim to a 4-1 victory. One day later in game two, Dusty Bergman gave up just three hits in a 5-0 shutout by Heidenheim.

Game three will be played on Saturday at 4.30pm CET with Dewald, who again will be flown in from Georgia College & State University, going toe-to-toe with German national teammate Markus Winkler, who hopes to have the odds on his side, as he hasn’t to deal with jetlag.

Game four and possible five would follow on Sunday at 1pm and 3.30pm CET. Heidekoepfe ace Dusty Bergman gets the nod in the fourth match, while Peter Dankerl in a fifth. The Tornados will counter with Rene Franke and Michael Otto, though not necessarily in this particular order.

With the pitching staffs pretty much set, the Heidekoepfe hope to have one more ace in their sleeve. Catcher and offensive force Simon Guehring might be available for pinch hit duties for this weekend’s games. He started with light practice sessions this week after having fractured his heel in the World Baseball Challenge in July.

Photo: © www.heidekoepfe.de