Day three and the race for the finals at the Qualifiers for the European Cups is shaping up.
In Antwerp the Zurich Challengers defeated Nada Split 8-4 for their first win in the tournament. The Swiss club was paced by five home runs – two alone by Ryan Byrne, who also struck out nine in a solid complete game performance. In the second game the Brasschaat Braves improved to 3-0 with an 11-1 blowout against the Vienna Wanderers. Sim Ruts went 3-for-3 with a home run shy of the cycle, scoring four times and driving in three. TJ Antonacci struck out eight in six innings for the win.
In Athens the people in attendance saw two high-scoring games on Wednesday. In the first match Olimpija Karlovac downed Atletico Alexandria 23-4. They scored in each of the six innings played and put nine runs on the board in the sixth. Nikol Sertic and Ross Vukovich Jr. had inside the park home runs. In the second game the Sofia Blues handed host Maroussi 2004 a 17-2 loss. Dimitar and Alexander Nassapov combined for five RBI. Momchil Lazarov scored thrice and drove in four.
In Brest the Vienna Metrostars trailed Kaunas Lituanica 1-3 until the bottom of the ninth, when Florian Niel capped a three-run comeback rally with a two-out, two-run walk-off single. Stefan Ludescher made it possible with six scoreless innings of two-hit relief. In game two on the day Brest Zubrs scored ten runs in the top of the sixth of a 17-5 win over the Angels Trnava. The top five of Brest’s batting order scored 11 runs and drove in 12. Tomas Biskorovajny hit an inside the parker for the Angels and drove in three of their five runs.
In Stockholm Qualifier specialist Bern Cardinals picked up an 11-7 victory over Vilnius BC. Bern, which was the first Swiss team in a European Cup “A” in 2013, scored seven runs in the first three innings to set the tone. Stefan Iten homered. Misael Guerrero went 4-for-6 with three RBI and received the win on the mound after three relief innings. In the evening game the Stockholm Monarchs stunned the North Stars Moscow with a 10-4 victory. Five players drove in two each. Four pitchers kept Moscow to six hits. Elvis Hammerstedt pitched 5 1/3 strong innings for the win.
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