Day two at the European Championship Juniors U18 Qualifier in Varazdin and Karlovac, Croatia saw four high-scoring games. Switzerland and Croatia are leading the standings with two wins apiece going into the last day of first-round play.
In the morning game Belarus edged out Poland 10-9 in Varazdin. It was a back and forth battle. Belarus took a quick 5-0 lead after three innings. But Poland scored six runs in the fifth highlighted by a grand slam of Krzsyszto Golebiowski and was up 7-6 after seven innings. In the eighth Belarus was back in front thanks to two runs. Poland countered by scoring twice in the ninth. It wasn’t enough, as Belarus used their last chance to win in walk-off style. A throwing error plated the winning run. Ilya Dziamchuk had four hits for Belarus.
The second game of the day was a 44-run offensive slugfest. Switzerland won the wild game 28-16 against Hungary. They scored six runs in the third, ten in the sixth and eight in the seventh. Andreas Hug stood out with five hits, four runs and five RBI. Colin Bruce also scored four times. Conrad McCarthy crossed the plate for five runs. Akos Balasko homered for Hungary. Robert Szabo took the loss.
In the afternoon game in Karlovac Lithuania stunned Great Britain 10-8. Both teams are now 1-1 in Group A, trailing Switzerland (2-0). Similar to the Belarus-Poland game, the lead changed several times. Lithuania led 6-0 after three innings. However the British squad scored eight unanswered runs between the sixth and the eighth to get up in front 8-6. But in the bottom of the eighth, Lithuania took advantage of a pair of errors, scored four times and won the game. James Dix had four hits for GB. Marius Balandis scored twice and picked up the win in relief.
In the evening Croatia improved to 2-0 with a 16-0 shutout over Slovakia, their second in the tournament. Five runs in the third blew the score open early in the game. Aleksandar Kruhek struck out nine batters in seven scoreless two-hit, two-walk innings. Andrija Tomic, Antonio Horvatic and Luka Ostovic scored three runs apiece. Ostovic also drove in three. Adam Zverbik took the loss.
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