Group B: Croatia – Belgium
Belgium 100 030 001 5 13 0 Croatia 000 000 010 1 11 1
In a duel of two veteran hurlers Belgium had the better ending, as they beat Croatia 5-1 for their first win in the European Championship in Group-B play on Saturday afternoon on the back field in Hoofddorp. A run in the first gave them the lead. Three runs in the fifth blew the game open. Croatia had 11 hits in the contest, but only managed an eight-inning run.
On the mound Terrence Antonacci conceded only one run despite these 11 hits to pick up the win. More amazingly he had only one strikeout in the game and Belgium didn’t turn any double plays. He was opposed by Jimmy Summers, who allowed four runs on 12 hits and a walk in seven innings, taking the loss.
At the plate Belgium scored first, when the current minor leaguer Sam Buelens led off the game with a single and then came around to score on a double by the former minor leaguer Thomas De Wolf. In the fifth Benjamin Dille extended the lead to two runs with a sac fly. A RBI single by Hans Heyrman and a RBI triple by Steven De Lannoy gave them a 4-0 advantage.
Croatia finally came on the board in the eighth, when Andrij Tomic tripled to and scored on a single by Kruno Gojkovic. However a sac fly by Heyrman in the ninth sealed the win for Belgium. Buelens scored two runs overall in the game. Heyrman had three hits and two RBI. Tomic and Gojkovic had three hits each for Croatia.