Europe: Heidenheim wins German baseball crown; Blagoevgrad best club in Bulgaria

The top-tier national baseball leagues in Bulgaria and Germany concluded this past weekend.

The Heidenheim Heidekoepfe won the 2017 German Baseball-Bundesliga Championship, defeating the Bonn Capitals, 3 games to 2, in the best-of-5  national championship series.

Heidenheim won the decisive Game 5 with an 8-1 victory for the club’s third German crown (2009, 2015 and 2017). It was Bonn’s best finish since 1999.

The Capitals were considered the slight favourites, as Bonn’s roster featured German National Team pitchers Sascha Koch, Maurice Wilhelm and Max Schmitz.

Bulgarian Baseball League

The Buffaloes Blagoevgrad Baseball Club was crowned the top club in Bulgaria, with a 1-0 shutout over powerhouse Athletic Sofia in Game 5 of the best-of-5 Bulgarian Baseball League (BBL) Championship Series.

Bulgarian Baseball Federation president Yassen Nedelchev pitched a complete game, two-hit shutout, while Rumen Lachev of Athletic took the loss with a two-hit gem of his own.

Buffaloes Blagoevgrad and Athletic Sofia both finished the regular season with records of 11-3, splitting their 2 regular season games.

In the semi-finals, Blagoevgrad eliminated the Coyotes Dupnitsa, while Athletic eliminated crosstown rival Sofia Blues.

At the world level, Germany is ranked 20th and Bulgaria 50th in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings Presented by ENEOS.

The Buffaloes Blagoevgrad celebrate winning the Bulgarian Baseball League 2017 title.