At the European Cup in Chartres and Paris, France it’s a three-team race for the finals on Sunday. On the fourth day of the first round L&D Amsterdam, Unipol Bologna and T&A San Marino picked up their fourth respective third wins of the tournament. The matchup between Bologna and Amsterdam at noon on Saturday will decide about the final.
Solingen Alligators – Unipol Bologna 10-18
Unipol Bologna won a slugfest against the Solingen Alligators 18-10 in nine innings. Bologna scored early and often and led 12-2 midway through the seventh, looking to end the game via ten-run rule. However the German champion had other plans and scored eight runs – five on back-to-back-to-back doubles by Tanner Leighton, Dominik Wulf and Nils Hartkopf – to get within two. But Bologna added six insurance runs to claim the victory. Alessandro Vaglio went 4-for-4 with a triple, two doubles, five runs scored and four RBI. Guillermo Rodriguez collected four hits, three runs and two RBI. Riccardo De Santis pitched five solid innings for the win. Andre Hughes got charged with the loss. Bologna improved to 3-1, Solingen dropped to 1-3.
T&A San Marino – Brest Zubrs 15-0 (5)
T&A San Marino shut out Brest Zubrs 15-0 in five innings for their third win in four games on Friday afternoon in Chartres. Alessandro Ercolani pitched a five-inning no-hitter, allowing just one walk, while striking out six. After a scoreless first, San Marino scored six runs in the second, four in the fourth and five in the fifth to win in blowout-style. Jack Santora and Gabriele Ermini combined for six RBI. Lorenzo Avagnina scored thrice. Artsiom Lapchanka gave up ten runs on ten hits and four walks in four-plus innings for the loss.
L&D Amsterdam Pirates – Paris UC 15-2 (7)
L&D Amsterdam celebrated a 15-2 lopsided win over Paris UC in seven innings to remain the lone undefeated team in the tournament. At 4-0 they still could miss on a trip to the final, as Amsterdam, Bologna and San Marino could end up in a three-way tie after Saturday’s games. On Friday evening the Pirates had no trouble against host PUC, scoring four runs apiece in the first, fourth and sixth innings. Paris cut the deficit to two runs in the top of the third and also scored in the seventh, but it was too little to make up against a powerful Amsterdam squad. Ten different players scored for the Dutch vice champion. Michael Duursma doubled, scored twice and drove in three. Dennis Burgersdijk went the distance to pick up the win. Douglas Rodriguez had all three RBI for Paris. Dan Camou took the loss, surrendering seven hits, nine runs (5 ER) and four walks in four innings.
Outlook
The preliminary round at the European Cups ends on Saturday with three more games. The top two in the standings at the end of the day will advance to the final on Sunday. The winner of the European Cup in Paris will face the winner of the European Cup in Rotterdam in a best of three European Champions Cup series in August. On the last day the 12pm game between Unipol Bologna and L&D Amsterdam will be probably decisive in the race for the finals. Paris UC hosts T&A San Marino at 5pm in the evening with San Marino also hoping to reach the game on Sunday. In between the last game in Chartres will be played at 3pm between Brest Zubrs and the Solingen Alligators.
Standings
|
Pos
|
Team
|
GP
|
WO
|
LO
|
AVG
|
GB
|
|
1
|
 Amsterdam Pirates (NED) |
4
|
4
|
0
|
1000
|
0
|
|
2
|
 CNF Unipolsai Bologna (ITA) |
4
|
3
|
1
|
750
|
1
|
|
3
|
 T & A San Marino (SMR) |
4
|
3
|
1
|
750
|
1
|
|
4
|
 PUC (FRA) |
4
|
1
|
3
|
250
|
3
|
|
5
|
 Solingen Alligators (GER) |
4
|
1
|
3
|
250
|
3
|
|
6
|
 Brest Zubrs (BLR) |
4
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
4
|
Complete Schedules and Live Play by Play at www.baseballstats.eu
Livestreams of the European Cups:
Rotterdam (Games of ASD Rimini) http://m.ustream.tv/channel/rimini-baseball-live
Paris http://original.livestream.com/pucbaseball
Chartres http://livestream.com/accounts/13242543/events/4095514
Photo by Patricia Hernandez