In their final tune-up before the European Championship Qualifier starts on Monday, Team Austria visited the Mainz Athletics of the German Bundesliga for a weekend of games.
On Friday night, the teams took to the field in what shaped up to be a great matchup. Pitchers Thomas Schrittwieser, Walter Strasser, Clemens Cichocki and Christian Tomsich each made an appearance on the mound to get their final work in, while head coach Tim Patrick rotated through position players to get a last look at his options. The Athletics had trouble getting on the scoreboard, and were limited to just two runs over nine innings. For the Austrians, Clemens Cichocki had a couple strong swings of the bat to match his innings on the mound. He went yard twice for the guests, a two run shot and a solo homer, accounting for all of Austria’s runs and securing the 3-2 victory.
The second matchup, scheduled for 8pm Saturday night, was threatened by rain from the onset, and the teams were only able to get through three innings before a downpour halted play in the fourth.
On Monday evening, Team Austria will start their pursuit of an European Championship birth against hosts Belgium in Antwerp.