The 2014 European Championship Cadets U15 in Paderborn and Dortmund, Germany started on Tuesday with four commanding wins under perfect weather and field conditions.
In the morning game at Paderborn the Netherlands scored five runs in the first and nine in the second en route to a 15-0 shutout over Belarus. Chris Koeiman, Aaron Isenia and Luuk ter Beek combined to throw four no-hit innings, issuing just a pair of walks. Eight different players scored.
The second game of the day was played in Dortmund. Lithuania stunned Russia with an 11-1 victory. They were paced by starting pitcher Dziugas Gavrilcikas, who struck out eight in five one-hit, one-run (0 ER) innings. He also went 3-for-3 with a triple, three runs scored and two RBI. Lithuania scored in each of the first four frames.
In the early afternoon game in Paderborn the Czech Republic prevailed 11-1 against Sweden. Three runs in the third put the Czech team on the board. With three more runs in the fifth and five in the sixth they blew the score open and ended the contest with the 10-run mercy rule. Marek Chlup led all batters by going 3-for-4 with three runs and four RBI. Ondrej Furko and Michal Prokes threw three scoreless no-hit innings. Daniel Zavada closed it out for the save.
Following the official opening ceremony prior to the late afternoon game, Paderborn’s Mayor Michael Dreier threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Then host Germany went to business, scoring 12 runs in the second on their way to a 15-0 win over the Ukraine. Lucas Dunn went 3-for-3 with four RBI. Local hero Marco Cardoso had three hits and three RBI in front of a hometown crowd. Justin Ballmann, Niklas Rimmel and Christoph Walzer combined to keep the Ukraine to two hits in the game.
Complete Schedule, Results, Box scores and Live Play by Play can be found at www.baseballstats.eu
Photo by Deutsche Baseball Akademie