With one day to go the Czech Republic already has won the Italian Baseball Week 2016. It’s their first title at the invitational tournament. On Monday they remained undefeated with a pair of wins over Italy and Spain. On Tuesday they close out the tournament at 7pm in Florence against host Italy.
Italy 000 000 1 1 4 0 Czech Republic 011 000 X 2 6 0
In the afternoon game on Monday the Czech team beat Italy 2-1. A solo home run by Thomas Junec and a RBI single by Jakub Malik put them ahead 2-0 after three frames. Italy didn’t score until the seventh inning, when Juan Carlos Infante walked with the bases loaded. Martin Schneider and Daniel Mraz kept Italy to four hits and two walks in seven innings. Carlos Richetti got charged with the loss. Carlos Teran, Gian Franco Rizzo, Yomel Rivera and Nicholas Morreale also pitched for Italy.
Spain 000 000 0 0 3 1 Czech Republic 000 300 X 3 4 0
In the evening the Czech team shut out Spain 3-0 for their third win in as many games. Boris Bokaj and Thomas Duffek combined to keep Spain to three hits in seven scoreless frames. Jakub Malik drove in two of the three runs with a double in the fourth and later scored the third run. Jorge Balboa conceded four hits, three runs (2 ER) and a walk in five innings. He struck out seven, but still took the loss. Rhiner Cruz closed it out.