Great Britain and Croatia have reached the final at the European Championship Juniors U18 Qualifier in Varazdin and Karlovac, Croatia. By advancing they also are qualified for next year’s European Championship Juniors. The tournament ends on Saturday.
In the first semi-final the British squad scored four runs in the second en route to a 7-1 victory over Belarus. Jacob Dean and Thomas Armstrong also kept Belarus to an unearned run on six hits in nine strong innings. Jonathan Frethelm, Callum Vinall and Richard Brereton Jr. each scored twice. Ilya Dziamchuk took the loss.
In the second semi-final Croatia put five runs on the board in the first two frames of a 5-0 shutout over Lithuania. The host still hasn’t allowed a single run in the whole tournament. Franko Vrlic struck out ten in nine scoreless innings for the win. He issued just four hits and a walk. Antonio Horvatic scored twice. Lukas Ostovic drove in two. Romantas Trumpa took the loss. His reliever Marius Balandis impressed with 11 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings of two-hit, two-walk excellence.
Additionally two classification games were played on Friday. In the morning Poland crushed Hungary 19-2. The Polish squad opened the contest with eight runs in the first, seven more scored in the fourth. Kamil Stajer drove in four. Tymoteusz Orszulik crossed the plate four times. In the second match in the consolation round Slovakia prevailed 13-3 against Switzerland. Slovakia scored in seven of the eight innings. Mario Gottschall went 4-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored. Richard Gottschall struck out eight in seven strong innings of two-hit relief.
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