Consolation Round 9th to 12th: Croatia – Great Britain
Great Britain 000 004 002 6 12 1 Croatia 000 000 002 2 7 1
Great Britain ended its winless streak at the European Championship in Hoofddorp with a 6-2 win over Croatia. With the British and Greek wins in the consolation round for places 9th to 12th on Thursday everything is set up for a dramatic final on Friday, as all four consolation round teams now sit at 1-1. The winners of the remaining two games between Great Britain and Greece as well as Croatia and Russia will stay in the A-Pool.
It was a pitcher’s duel early on between Great Britain and Croatia. Cody Chartrand and Danijl Levak exchanged zeros on the scoreboard through the first five innings. In the sixth the British squad broke the scoreless tie with a four-run rally. Zach Wiley got things going with a RBI single. Nate Thomas followed with a two-run double. A RBI single by Spencer Kreisberg made it 4-0. In the ninth Maikel Azcuy singled in two more runs for GB. In the bottom half Phil Smith ended the shutout bid with a two-run home run. However the next three batters went down in order and Croatia had to settle for a 2-6 loss.
Chartrand earned the win by allowing five hits and a walk in six scoreless innings. Conrad Cornell closed it out for the save. Levak surrendered seven hits, four runs and two walks in five-plus innings to take the loss.