Füssen Royal Bavarians gamble away the lead against Gauting

Füssen – With a draw, the Füssen Royal Bavarians and the Gauting Indians parted ways after the first Bundesliga home game on the new “King’s Field” in Füssen. Although the home side led clearly in the first game, Gauting fought back, equalized and won in the end with 15:11. In the second game of the day, Daniel Mendelsohn finally decided the Pitiching duel for Füssen, so that they could look forward to a 2-0 victory.

For the first time, the Füssen Royal Bavarians went to a home game at the newly built “King’s Field” – the first real home game in almost three years. “The excitement could definitely be felt and the anticipation was huge!” Says leading player Silvan Zacek. For the first time this season, head coach Mitch Stephan was able to fall back on the entire squad. Only the injured Canadian Nick KyRose was not involved and is expected to be out for at least two more weeks.

The opening game at the new “King’s Field” was opened by none other than legend James Starek on the throwing hill. It was the 50-year-old veteran’s first appearance this season. And Starek did his job well as usual. Gauting took a 2-0 lead in the first “inning” (section of the game). But Füssen equalized to 2: 2 in the look-up by Cedric Igelspacher.

Christian Brunner opened the second inning with the first home run in the new stadium and thus really got the Füssen offensive rolling. Heavy blows from Alexander Wolter, Thomas Haf, Silvan Zacek, Igelspacher and Michael Wöhrl increased to 7: 3. Up until the fifth inning, Füssen was clearly the better team and, above all, showed what it was capable of in an offensive manner. After four innings played, Los Blancos were 11-5 in the lead.

The guests from Gauting stubbornly stayed in the game and continuously shortened until they finally managed to equalize against the substitute Zacek to 11:11. The momentum changed to the side of the guests and also player-coach Mitch Stephan could not fend off the defeat on the throwing hill – final score 11:15.

Defensive weakens

“On the offensive, what we delivered in game one today was very gratifying. There was a bit of a hitch in the last few games. Today, in the end, it was mainly the defense that let us down, ”said Stephan, explaining the defeat, referring to the four field players.

In the second game of the day, the numerous spectators at “King’s Field” expected a pitching duel (thrower duel) at the highest level. Returning Daniel Mendelsohn made his home debut. Michael Hübner competed on the side of the Gauting Indians. For years he has been one of the best throwers in the 2nd Bundesliga.

Füssen got off to a better start and acted like a textbook: Christian Aman walked to base and a steal to second base. Stephan moved him to third base with a wide “flyball” and the strong Igelspacher brought Aman home with his stroke to take the 1-0 lead.

A similar picture emerged in the third inning. This time it was youngster Chris Kleber who got to base with a “hit-by-pitch” and was pushed to third base by hits from Aman and Stephan. This time it was Zacek who brought glue over the “home plate” with a hard blow and made it 2-0.

Then it was the show of the two “pitchers” again. First and foremost Daniel Mendelsohn, who left the Gautinger offensive hardly any room to develop and at the end of the day left the field with a total of six “strikeouts” and not a single “walk” with the “shutout victory”. “Very strong performance from the entire team in the second game and above all from Daniel, of course [Mendelsohn]. Especially on the offensive, we did the little things right and scored points with a high level of efficiency, ”said Stephan happily.

This means that the Royal Bavarians remain in the race with a record of two wins and four defeats and have the three strongest teams in the first half of the season behind them. Tomorrow, Sunday, July 4th, the “RBs” will play against the Munich Caribes. Last weekend, they left a game at the bottom of the table in Ingolstadt.

“In the next two weeks against Munich and Ingolstadt we have to win at least three out of four games in order to meet our demands and to play at the top”, Stephan clearly indicates the route.