After the preliminary round of the World Junior AAA Championship in Edmonton, Canada all four European teams do not advance into the quarterfinals. Instead they will play their own little European Championship to determine places nine to twelve in the tournament.
On Thursday three makeup games were scheduled. In the first match Cuba shut out Italy 4-0. Erluis Blanco struck out seven in five one-hit innings and combined with A. Hernandez and R. Fernandez in a three-hitter. The Cuban offense got off to a good start, scoring all four runs before the end of the fourth. Gianfranco Grillo lost his second game this week, going 3 1/3 innings, allowing six hits, four runs and three walks. Elia Pasquali replaced him and held the Caribbean offense in check for the reminder of the game. He gave up just one hit and three base on balls in 4 2/3 innings of relief.
The Czech Republic had no chance against Canada, losing 1-25 in seven innings. The home team scored seven runs in the first and ten in sixth. Luke Willson went five-for-five with four runs scored and six RBI. He hit one of the five Canadian homeruns. Mates Hejma homered for the Czech team. Francois La Freniere struck out twelve in seven solid innings to pick up the win. Ladislav Vrbsky was charged with twelve hits, 14 runs and seven walks in 4 1/3 innings.
In the only other game on Thursday, Taiwan defeated Puerto Rico 2-1 in eleven innings.
Quarterfinals:
August 1st:
10:00 Taiwan – Korea
14:00 Puerto Rico – USA
15:00 Mexico – Cuba
19:05 Australia – Canada
Consolation Round:
10:00 Russia – Italy
10:00 Czech Republic – Netherlands
Results July 31st:
Cuba – Italy 4-0
ITA 000 000 000 0 3 3 CUB 003 100 00X 4 7 1
Taiwan – Puerto Rico 2-1 (11)
PUE 000 000 001 00 1 4 2 TAI 000 100 000 01 2 5 1
Czech Republic – Canada 1-25 (7)
CAN 710 25(10) 0 25 22 1 CZE 000 10 0 0 1 5 1
Standings:
Pool A:
- USA 5-0
- Korea 4-1
- Australia 3-2
- Mexico 2-3
- Netherlands 1-4
- Russia 0-5
Pool B:
- Cuba 4-1
- Canada 4-1
- Taiwan 3-2
- Puerto Rico 3-2
- Italy 1-4
- Czech Republic 1-4