Heidenheim Heidekoepfe – Unipol Bologna 7-6 (12)
Last September Unipol Bologna edged out the Heidenheim Heidekoepfe in extra innings in the finals of the European Champions Cup in Barcelona. On Saturday the German Baseball-Bundesliga club got some payback, defeating the Italian team 7-6 in twelve innings. With the loss, Bologna needs a win over L&D Amsterdam on Sunday to make sure that they will finish in the top two.
Fortitudo had tied the contest on Saturday in the top of the ninth, sending the game into extra innings with the score at 2-2. Both teams scored twice in the tenth and not at all in the eleventh. The outcome finally was decided in the third extra inning, when Heidenheim used a pair of errors to answer two runs by Bologna with a three-run rally in the bottom of the frame. Simon Guehring had the walk-off hit with a RBI single, driving in Matt Gaski.
Johannes Schaeffler scored three times for the Heidekoepfe. Joe Mazzuca had three hits and two RBI for Fortitudo. The win was even more impressive, as 23-year-old German hurler Aljosha Schattmann (W) went the distance to beat the IBL club. He threw 151 pitches in the complete game. Cody Cillo, Nicholas Pugliese and Victor Moreno (L) climbed the mound for Unipol with last year’s finals hero Moreno taking the loss.
CB Sant Boi – North Stars Moscow 11-1 (7)
CB Sant Boi crushed the North Stars Moscow 11-1 in seven innings to pick up their first win of the tournament. William Domero doubled three times to drive in four runs for the Spanish champion. Rafael Rivas reached four times and scored thrice. Winston Marquez (W) struck out nine in six innings, allowing five hits, a run and four walks. Nikol Chermoshentsev (L) was charged with the loss.
L&D Amsterdam Pirates – Hoboken Pioneers 13-0 (7)
L&D Amsterdam used five-run rallies in the second and sixth en route to a 13-0 shutout over the Hoboken Pioneers, booking a ticket to the European Champions Cup Final Four in Brno, Czech Republic at the end of September. Roeland Henrique Jr. and Bas Nooij combined for five hits and seven RBI to lead the Pirates charged. Ben Grover (W) went seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and a pair of walks. He struck out twelve. Terrence Antonacci (L) got hit hard, surrendering twelve runs on twelve hits and a walk in five-plus innings.