At the pitching side Drew Chesser (Bad News Bombers) won the ESSL Supercup pitching title with an opponent batting average (OBA) of .364 followed by Ray Domenech, PGS (OBA .407) and Pedro Diaz, Toros (OBA .411).

BEST HITTER OF EACH TEAM
Bad News Bombers: Hector Laureno (3.), Bombers, AVG .750
Chocolate City Eagle: Enio Kwas (25.), AVG .556
Dream Team: Domen Znoj (4.), AVG .722
Guzzlers: Stan Cruz (1.), AVG .778
Los Coyotes: Hansel Cepada (3.), AVG .583
Los Titanes: Luis A. Dominguez (2.), AVG .625
PGS: Marco Schmidt (8.), AVG .692
Toros: Rafael Ferrer (10.), AVG .684

TOP 20 Hitters ESSL Supercup

Link: hitting stats of tournament

TOP Pitchers ESSL Supercup

Link: pitching stats of tournament

The Bombers won every game and they showed that they were the team to beat. But not every game was a clear decision. The semi-final game against the Los Coyotes (Austria) was a tough one. Until the bottom of the 5th inning the Los Coyotes were ahead 11:8. The Bombers took their last chance and scored some more runs. Finally, Dave Donnely hit the winning RBI and Ray Ford scored the run to win the game 12:11 for the Bombers. After the Los Coyotes won against the Guzzlers Europe (7:5) both teams faced each other in the finals again. After two innings it was another close race (8:6) between those two teams. Realizing the previous game in the semi-finals the Bombers “shifted into a higher gear” and scored several runs to end the game 16:6 in the fifth inning.

Boxscore Final Game
Bombers vs. Los Coyotes 16:6

The Guzzlers had some ups and downs at this tournament but at the key games they were not able to get into a good hitting rhythm. Unfortunately, the two close loses in the double elimination against the Los Coyotes (7:9 & 5:7) kicked them out of the race for the Supercup title 2015.

The Dream Team from Slovenia had a very good tournament and played their role as an underdog very well. But, the game (7:13) against the Guzzlers in the DE stopped them from reaching a big surprise. This very young team has great potential and everybody has to watch out for the next season. A good example of their talent is that two players, Patric Puntar and Gaspar Narobe, are eligible to sign a Minor League baseball contract with a MLB club for the 2016/17 season.

For all teams the Chocolate City Eagles from the Nertherlands, representing Aruba, were a big unknown factor. The team that received a wild card spot had some troubles at the beginning because the players needed some time to adapt their game to this level of play. But as soon as they had their first double elimination game they seemd to be ready. With the win against the Los Titanes (6:5) they were in the race to reach the 5th place and more in their first international tournament. However, after losing against the Guzzler (6:20) and the game for the 5th ranking spot against PGS (5:16) they finished on the 6th place. For this new team it was a tournament with a learning curve, especially, when you play 7 games in two days.

PGS (Austria) were able to step up at this tournament by achieving the 5th place. They had a chance to climb up the ranking but this opportunity was stopped by the Dream Team (10:14). The Toros (Switzerland) and the Titanes (Austria) didn’t have their best players on the field. Thus, the were not able to show their full strength. At the end the Toros ranked 7th and the Titanes 8th.

Not only teams win titles but also players. For this tournament Stan Cruz from the Guzzlers won the batting title (AVG .778) and Drew Chesser from the Bombers the pitching title.

ESSL Supercup Stats

• Hitting Stats
• Pitching Stats

The ESSL Jobworx Supercup is history. We saw great games, emotions and teams that had a lot fun. We were also honored by the visit of the mayor of Linz, Klaus Luger, who threw the first pitch before the final game started. Now the tournament is over and history is in the books with the first Supercup title for the Bad News Bombers.

ESSL Supercup 2015
1. Bad News Bombers
2. Los Coyotes
3. Guzzlers
4. Dream Team
5. PGS
6. Chocolate City Eagles
7. Toros
8. Los Titanes

ESSL Supercup Stats

Best Hitter: Stan Cruz, Guzzlers, AVG .778
Best Pitcher: Drew Chesser, Bombers, OBA .364

ESSL Supercup Games

Link: Games & Rankings

Although the Bad News Bombers won every tournament so far the cards will be reshuffled this time. Especially, two teams seem to be very focused to win the title – the European Guzzlers (USA) and the Los Coyotes from Austria. Both teams already challenged the Bombers twice and it seems that both teams have closed the gap.

Besides winning the Super Cup there is another competition going on: The race for the ESSL league rankings. The Dream Team (Slovenia) and the Los Coyotes are competing for the third place in the ESSL league. Both teams are only two points apart. Therefore, Dream Team needs to be at least two positions higher ranked after the tournament to win the bronze medal. For the fifth place there is race between three teams (Bulldogs, PGS and Toros).

It will also be very interesting to see the Chocolate City Eagles play. For the wild card team from the Netherlands, representing Aruba, is it the first international appearance.

On Saturday the tournament starts at 0800 with the round robin games followed by the double elimination games at 1615. On Sunday we will get closer to the answer who will be the champion when the championship game starts at 1415. The mayor of Linz, Klaus Luger, will throw the first pitch.

After a long day of hot games there will be time to relax and to have fun. On Saturday at 2130 the Los Coyotes invite all players to a players’ party in an old Roman wine cellar.

See you in Linz