By Gabriel Fidler.
Only two teams remain in the hunt for the 2025 Under-23 European Baseball Championship, as Great Britain came from behind to upset the Netherlands, while the Czech Republic put together a strong, all-around performance to defeat Italy. Elsewhere, Austria and France secured wins as the U23 Baseball Euros finished its penultimate day.
Israel – Austria
Both countries plated two runs in the first, but only Austria could break the deadlock thanks to a balanced offensive approach. In the opening frame, Israel put four consecutive runners on base with one out. Chase Engelhard drew a base on balls, Jake Arnow singled to right center, and Nadav Machlin plated the game’s first run with a base knock down the left field line. Lyrr Friesem then doubled home a run. After an out, Dovid Solomon walked to load the bases, but Eoghan McGarry buckled down and struck out the final batter to escape the pickle.
Two walks and a Julian Faulhaber single jammed the sacks for Austria in the home half, but a pair of strikeouts by Itai Spinoza nearly had Israel Baseball out of danger. Instead, Felix Dittrich singled home a run, and another scored on a wild pitch.
Austria scored another pair in the fourth after Moritz Riedmann tripled to start the inning and Dan Kawanishi lifted a sacrifice fly. Elias Kreska started another rally, though, with a single, coming home on a Jonas Kreska double. The Austrians added a final run in the sixth on a run-scoring double by Elias Kreska.
McGarry earned the win with a complete game effort, striking out eight and permitting two runs on four hits and five walks.
Germany – France
Baseball Deutschland looked to be in control with six runs in the third, but France chipped away at the 6-1 advantage with four runs in the fourth and a pair of scores in the fifth and sixth to take a 9-6 decision. The story of the day was the free pass, as French pitchers offered five freebies, while German moundsmen walked 11 and hit a batter.
There were three big flies in the game, with Elias Huber launching a grand slam and Moritz Köhler hitting a solo shot for the Germans in the third. Meanwhile, Mathis Meurant jump-started the first French rally with a three-run bomb in the fourth. Meurant also walked twice, with Kylian Bamberger collecting two singles and a base on balls for the victors. Köhler was 3-for-4 for Germany, while Elias Huber went 2-for-3 with a walk and four RBI and Darrion Richards had a pair of knocks.
Great Britain – Netherlands
With a spot in the finals on the line, Sem Kuijper got the Netherlands off to a strong start in the opening frame, lifting a double to left field to score Luca van Gorkum. Team GB manufactured an immediate reply, with a walk, hit batter, ground ball, wild pitch, and sacrifice fly scoring two runs in the second.
The game would sail on into the late innings with the score at 2-2, though only two half-innings went 1-2-3, both delivered by Great Britain’s reliever Andrew Campbell, who entered to star the second.
In the sixth, J’Quann Smith laced a double to left center to score Cole LeClair, before Great Britain erupted in the seventh. The first three batters reached, two on base knocks up the middle. Quinn Allen followed with a RBI-single, though a nifty throw from Miquel Willem in center nailed one runner at home, Sem Kuijper applying the tag. Jackson Kraemer then struck a triple down the right field line to score two more, coming home on an Andrew Johnston single.
After five excellent relief innings from Campbell, in which he allowed only a single run on four hits and two walks, striking out five, the Netherlands made the game interesting against the third British pitcher of the day. Raydley Legito hit a leadoff double, moving to third on a wild pitch. Jesse Velders and Willem then drew free passes, before GB Manager Jonathan Cramman went to the bullpen once more. Zac Colletti entered and, although he game up a two-run single to Gedionne Marlin, he retired the next three, and GB avenged its loss to the Netherlands in the 2023 Under-23 European Baseball Championship final.
Campbell earned the win in the 7-4 result, with Colletti collecting the save. Jake Lambdin was 3-for-4 in the win, with Tucker Stockman notching a double and a single. LeClair had a single and two walks. The only Dutch player with multiple hits was van Gorkum, who went 3-for-4. Justin Morales took the hard-luck loss, striking out six in 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks.
Italy – Czech Republic
Three Czech pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout, and Michal Šindelka once again swung in a big bat in a 3-0 victory, as the Czech Republic advanced the U23 Baseball Euros title game for the first time since 2019. All three runs came in the second, starting with a two-out single by Ondřej Hrdlička. Matěj Vlach then smoked a ground-rule double and Šimon Klacl was then plunked. Šindelka then plated the game’s only runs with a two-bagger down the right field line, plating all three baserunners.
Vlach was 3-for-3 out of the nine hole for Czech Republic, while Hrdlička was the only other player with multiple hits. No Italian reached base more than once. Mattia Sireus closed out the game for Italy with 2.2 shutout innings, striking out three. The win went to Ondřej Vank, who tossed four shutout innings, sending down six on strikes and allowing only one hit and three free passes. Vojtěch Ventruba following with two perfect innings, whiffing a pair, before Filip Kollmann escaped a two-hit jam in the ninth for the save.
Catch up on the action from: Day 1 [link], Day 2 [link], Day 3 [link]. Box scores can be found here [link].