European Championship 2010, Day 2, July 24:
Great Britain – Sweden 1-4
SWE 012 010 000 4 9 1 GBR 000 000 001 1 9 2
Box scoreSweden has its first win at the 2010 European Championship. Joakim Claesson (W 1-0) and a strong defensive performance lifted them to a 4-1 win over Great Britain on Saturday afternoon in Stuttgart. The right-hander from Stockholm went 8 2/3 innings, allowing one run on nine hits and four walks. He got some help from his defense, which turned five double plays in the game, erasing several scoring opportunities for the British squad.
Magnus Pilegård put Sweden ahead in the top of the second thanks to a balk by Great Britain’s Brian Essery (L 0-1). One frame later Rickard Reimer and Kris Sjoeberg made it 3-0 with a pair of RBI singles. An error led to the second run by Tony Dermendziev in the fifth and the fourth run for Sweden overall. The British team had one last chance to come back, as they loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but only managed a run by Mitch Evans on a bases loaded walk by Mike Trask. Richard Klijn grounded out to third to end the game.
Photo: © Gregor Eisenhuth, www.eisenhuth-photographie.de