Quickly upstairs – sport

The Baldham Boars were not entirely satisfied with the so-called split, the division of victories after two games. Last Saturday, the second division baseball team based southeast of Munich drove to the southwest of the state capital to compete against the Gauting Indians in a top game. The 9: 5 success in the first comparison was enough to keep the Indians in the table of their relay at a distance, the championship should now be difficult to take from the Boars. But the end of the second game hit the mood a little: Bernhard Huber, the Gautingen chief born in 1960, made the very last move after a defensive mistake by the Boars for a narrow, acclaimed 3-2 win for the home team. “It was really two exciting games, you could see the quality of both teams,” enthused Gauting’s player Jakob von Mosch.

Both teams are traditional teams, if there is such a thing in German baseball. Gauting played in the first Bundesliga from 2004 to 2011, Baldham from 1998 to 2002. Both of them can imagine a promotion again, and that is partly due to their history. Gauting, for example, is so family-run that many of the experienced players have since returned and are now working as coaches or player-coaches. “It’s because of people like Bernhard Huber. The family atmosphere has drawn me back home,” says 38-year-old Jakob von Mosch, who has meanwhile also played for the most successful Bavarian team, the Regensburg Legionnaires. Like his brother Oskar, who is three years his junior, Von Mosch is now training a children’s team. And there is a lot more to come, both in terms of quantity and quality.

The ascent comes too early for Gauting, Baldham can’t go fast enough

First of all, there will be no promoted team this year because there are no relegated teams from the shortened Bundesliga season due to the Corona. In Gauting, the step would come a little too early anyway, especially since the infrastructure is currently not suitable for the first division: The only field that is constantly overcrowded due to the large influx of young people is also shared with the footballers – initial discussions of the congregation regarding an enlargement are already running, it is said.

On the other hand, things cannot go fast enough for the Baldhamers. The plan to move up is not of a medium-term nature, it is aimed at “as quickly as possible”. “We are currently building up the team for this,” says board member John Fürböck. On the one hand, in contrast to the Indians, Baldham has a US pitcher and player-coach; In addition, several young players are demonstrably ready for higher tasks. Two players have just taken part in the U23 European Championship in Italy: Fürböck’s son Brian for Austria, pitcher Lucas Traut for Germany. In addition, the Boars have a new facility that is largely suitable for the Bundesliga and that “adds momentum” to all teams, as Fürböck says, which has successfully created a spirit of optimism.

Now it may have been a top game at a very high level last weekend; Overall, however, the second Bundesliga is not strong enough to be able to develop the best talents in Bavaria. In order not to lose this, sooner or later the ascent will be a must. Whereby: In Gauting and Baldham most of them are so tied to the club that they don’t want to leave anyway.