Sweden has won the B-Level European Championship in Vienna, Austria. On Saturday evening the Scandinavian team defeated Austria 8-5 in the championship game in the front of a sold-out stadium to return to the 2016 European Championship. Sweden finished in 11th place in last year’s tournament, getting relegated to the B-Pool.
It was a close contest at the Prater in Vienna. Austria took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Sweden first tied the game at 4-4 in the seventh. After Austria regained the lead in the eighth, Sweden put four runs on the board in the ninth to seal the win. Peter Johannessen tied the game with his RBI single. After the bases got loaded with an intentional walk, Matt Merrifield scored the go-ahead run through a passed ball. A RBI single and a hit batter with the bases still loaded added some insurance, which wasn’t needed as Austria went down in order in the bottom of the ninth. Richard Alzinger and Moritz Hackl hit home runs for Austria. Peter Johannessen had three RBI.
During the closing ceremony Sweden’s catcher Bjorn Johannessen was named Most Valuable Player. His brother Peter Johannessen picked up the trophy for the best batter. Dean Kremer of Israel, who got drafted by the San Diego Padres last month, took home the award for the best pitcher.
Final Standings:
1
|
Sweden
|
2
|
Austria
|
3
|
Israel
|
4
|
Lithuania
|
5
|
Belarus
|
6
|
Poland
|
Video on demand of all games from Vienna are available through www.laola1.tv
Complete results, box scores, stats and daily reports can be found at www.baseballstats.eu
Let’s see….
The go-ahead run was scored by a guy from San Diego.
And the tournament’s best pitcher is from Stockton, CA — which is about as close to Israel as Rio de Janero.
Can you people ever put on a “European” championship which isn’t dominated by non-European players?
By the way, when did Israel become part of Europe?
fred4945… although I do understand your issue, let’s put this in context. While MM is originally from San Diego he is married with a Swede, lives in Stockholm full-time and works there. He has obtained a Swedish citizenship as he is living and working here full-time with a family for the last 10+ years.
While there are issues with certain countries doling our passports as if they were in Pez dispensers, this does not apply to all countries – where the regulations are more stricter.
Do I, as a Swedish baseball fan, wish it was different so that we would have a stronger baseball team? Yeah, sometimes.
But at the same time I do appreciate that we will have a weaker team compared to other teams, as it is not enough if you once visited Sweden or had a great-great-grandfather who once upon a time had a fling with a Swedish girl – or if you are a good lefty – in order to receive a passport and citizenship to our country.
Thank you, Kpa27, the the information. I stand corrected.
Since the days of Jerry Kendall’s work there, I’ve had respect for Sweden’s genuine commitment to the game. You have, indeed, tried to do it right and I’ve been frustrated that Sweden’s position in Eurpean baseball has not risen more.
If your federation wants help with their adult and juniors play, and instruction for coaches at all levels, I would be happy to visit with them about doing some coaching there. Fred4945@yahoo.com.
Best wishes to Swedish baseball!
fred, these things are just the reality of european baseball. if you reach a-pool, you will just face more dual-passport players on almost every team. i can understand the frustration, but austria has been doing the same thing with german-austrians and even american-austrians in the past. as far as isreal goes, they are in european federations in almost every sport.
Lutz,
You understand the “reality” of European baseball is a joke. You pretend to be cometitive by bringing in Western Hemisphere players to win tournaments in which you cannot compete without thm.. You cannot compete because, for up to 100 years now, you are unwillig to make the necessary investments in hard work to become competitive. Whatever importing and passport tricks you play to are just part of the pretense.
This is why the competitive baseball world (US, Canada, Caribbean countries, Japan, Korea) has no respect for European baseball. You talk about and posture about improving your game, but absolutely fail to do so. To the rest of us, that’s a bad joke.
If you’re happy with your pretend reality, that’s on you.
Almost 1300 Pics from the tournament are available!
ALL games from Austria vs each other team
Have a look!
http://www.nutville.at/2015-baseball-em
https://www.facebook.com/nutville.at
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nutville-Photography/289566857791807?pnref=lhc