Heidenheim wins Championship

First Title in Team History

The Heidekoepfe overcame a 1-2 deficit in the best-of-five series in the German finals and are celebrating their first championship in the Baseball-Bundesliga in team history. They tied the series with a 15-3 rout in game four and won the decisive fifth match 3-1 to clinch the title. They are the fifth different champion in the Baseball-Bundesliga in the last five years, four of them were debut winners.

In game four on Sunday, Simon Guehring showed no signs of an injury and led the Heidekoepfe to a 15-3 victory. The national team catcher, who fractured his heel during the World Baseball Challenge in July and made his comeback as designated hitter on Saturday, hit two homeruns, including a grand slam, in the first three innings for a total of seven RBI.

With the win Heidenheim evened the series 2-2. Andy Janzen and Sam Whitehead added three RBI each. Dusty Bergman (W 4-1) went eight innings for his fourth win of the 2009 playoffs. He allowed three runs on four hits and a whopping seven walks, striking out six. Tornados head coach Georg Bull decided to rest Rene Franke for a game five and used Jan Ruessel as starting pitcher, but he was chased from the mound after giving up eight runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Game five followed after the completion of the fourth match and Heidenheim had the better start, taking a 2-0 lead in the third on a solo homerun by Ray Stokes and a bases loaded walk by Johannes Schaeffler. A RBI fielder’s choice by Mannheim’s Dominik Hoepfner in the fourth cut the deficit to a run. Guehring sealed the 3-1 win by the Heidekoepfe with a solo homerun in the ninth.

Peter Dankerl (W 2-1) received the win after issuing just one run on seven hits and five walks in nine innings. He also had won game five in the semi-final series against the Solingen Alligators. Franke (L 1-4) surrendered six hits, three runs and nine bb in eight-plus innings to take his fourth loss in the postseason.

Photo: © www.eisenhuth-photographie.de