The U12 European Championship in Trebic, Czech Republic saw defending champion Czech Republic entering the competition on Tuesday. Following the opening ceremony the host beat Belarus on day two of the preliminary phase. Meanwhile Germany and Austria improved to 2-0 with wins over France and Slovakia. Russia and Romania picked up their first wins of the tournament.
Russia – Lithuania 16-1 (4)
Russia rebounded from their opening day loss to Germany with a 16-4 blowout against Lithuania. Russia scored all 16 runs in the first three frames for a quick ending. Shortstop Fedor Kolobaev went 4-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored and three RBI at the plate. Denis Alekseenko scored three times. Andrius Stravinskas accounted for the lone run of Lithuania with a home run in the fourth. Aleksei Frangulian picked up the win in relief. Titas Vaitkevicius got charged with the loss.
France – Germany 3-18 (5)
Germany won the matchup of day one winners against France by a score of 18-3. Seven runs in the first gave the German juveniles an early advantage. Ten runs combined in the fourth and fifth ended the game early due to mercy rule. Shortstop Tristan Russel went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and four RBI. Joshua Harrison also collected four hits. Moritz van Bergen set the highlight with a three-run shot over the center field fence in the fourth. Yannic Walther pitched three innings for the win, giving up three hits, two runs and a walk. Baptiste Blancot took the loss, getting chased from the game after three batters. Mathys Lelievre went 2-for-3 with a run and a RBI for France.
Ukraine – Romania 3-15 (5)
Romania scored seven runs in the first en route to a 15-3 victory over Ukraine in the afternoon game on field two in Trebic. Romania scored in each of the five innings played. Valentin Constantin, Geo. Adumitrachioaie and Ionut Stancu drove in three runs apiece. Cristian Deaca picked up the win in relief. The Ukraine only managed three runs in the bottom half of the first and didn’t score afterwards. Dmytro Yerofeiev got charged with the loss.
Slovakia – Austria 6-18 (5)
Austria improved to 2-0 in the U12 European Championship with an 18-6 win over Slovakia. They scored in each of the five innings with five runs in the first and seven in the fifth blowing the score wide open. Alexander Resel hit a two-run home run and drove in three overall. Levin Heinzel went 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBI. 12 different players scored for Austria. Timon Nespala had three hits, a run and a RBI for Slovakia. Emma Hanika received the win in relief. Matej Sladecek conceded 12 hits, 13 runs (10 ER) and a walk in four-plus innings to take the loss.
Czech Republic – Belarus 16-6 (5)
The Czech Republic scored 14 of its 16 runs in the first two frames of a 16-6 rout against Belarus. Ten runs in the second put the game out of reach. It was the first victory in the first game for the host and the defending champion. Michal Zelenka went 2-for-3 with a home run, four runs scored and two RBI. David Chvatal doubled and tripled to drive in three for the Czech team. Belarus got on the board in the third and the fourth with six runs combined. Yan Papruha drove in two. Relief pitcher Petr Tretera picked up the win on the mound. Yahor Rauko gave up 14 runs (12 ER) on 13 hits and two base on balls to get charged with the loss.
Standings
Schedule
Complete schedule, statistics and live play by play are available through www.baseballstats.eu. More information is also available through the official Facebook page of the competition.