While the Czech Republic will arrive in Taiwan for the Intercontinental Cup on Thursday, the teams from Italy and the Netherlands are already in Asia preparing for the upcoming tournament. They two European Baseball power houses kicked off their warm-up schedule on Monday with a pair of losses.
Italy 000 010 210 4 14 3 University of Taichung 300 040 00X 7 8 0
Reigning European Champion Italy lost 4-7 to the University of Taiwan despite the fact that they out-hit their opponents 14-8. Chris Cooper, Yovany D’Amico, Justin Cicatello, Alessandro Maestri and Marco Grifantini shared the workload on the mound. Juan Carlos Infante, Jairo Ramos Gizzi and Laidel Chapelli collected two hits apiece.
Netherlands 000 000 000 0 0 2 Japan 004 000 02X 6 6 2
The Dutch team didn’t fare any better in its first exhibition game. They met with fellow Intercontinental Cup opponent Japan and got no-hit in a 0-6 shutout. Japan’s hurlers struck out twelve, while only Sharlon Schoop and Danny Rombley reached base on a pair of walks. Tom Stuifbergen, Orlando Yntema, Leon Boyd and Dennis Neuman split time on the mound with Stuifbergen and Yntema each going three innings.