Defending champion Czech Republic and Germany will play in the final of the U12 European Championship in Trebic, Czech Republic. Both teams won on Thursday by 20-run rule and remained undefeated to clinch first place in their respective groups. Meanwhile Russia won a key matchup against France in the best game of the tournament. Romania and Austria also celebrated victories on day four of the preliminary round. The first round ends on Friday with five games. The final and the classification games are set for Saturday.
Germany – Ukraine 26-0 (3)
Germany scored 11 runs in the first and 15 in the second en route to a 26-0 shutout over Ukraine in just over an hour of playing time. Kalle Michel improved to 13-for-14 in the tournament with a 3-for-3 performance. He hit an inside the park home run and scored four times overall. Yannic Walther also crossed the plate for four runs. Luca Horger issued no hits, no runs and a walk in three innings on the mound. He struck out seven of the ten batters he faced. Matvii Serdechnyi got charged with the loss.
Lithuania – Romania 4-14
Romania celebrated its second win in four games in the tournament by defeating Lithuania 14-4 in seven innings. Seven runs in the fourth blew the game open for Romania. Gabriel Nina Stinga highlighted the rally with a two-run triple. He scored three times and drove in three overall. Tadas Adakauskas drove in three for Lithuania. Petronel Ivan Razvan conceded three hits, three runs and five walks in four-plus innings for the win. Karolis Liutkus took the loss, allowing nine hits, 11 runs (9 ER) and seven base on balls in 3 2/3 frames.
Russia – France 6-5
Russia and France met on Thursday afternoon on field one in a crucial matchup for second place in Group B. Russia prevailed 6-5 in an exciting back and forth affair. After starting pitchers Tanguy Meurant for France and Gleb Kosenkov had struck out nine each in four-plus innings both offenses finally came through in the fifth. France scored first taking a 2-0 lead in the top half of the frame. A bases loaded walk and a wild pitch helped to cross the plate twice. However Russia stopped a bigger rally when Meurant lined into a double play thanks to a great diving play by Russian second baseman Denis Alekseenko. In the bottom of the same inning Russia struck back, scoring four runs to get in front. Roman Kochetov had the go-ahead 2-run double. Russia added two more runs in the sixth, which were much needed. France tried to rally in the top of the seventh. They scored three runs and loaded the bases with two outs. However on Anatole Coste’s ground ball to third, Russia’s third baseman Georgii Vavilov beat the runner to the bag to end the game.
Belarus – Austria 1-18 (4)
Austria clinched second place and a spot in the bronze medal game against Russia with an 18-1 blowout against Belarus. They scored five runs in the first, two in the second, six in the third and five in the fourth. Dan Kawanashi had two doubles, a triple and six RBI in four at-bats. Levin Heinzle scored four times after going 3-for-4. Nico Schuler picked up the win, giving up one hit, a run and a walk in three innings. Yahor Rauko scored the lone run for Belarus. Pavel Autka issued three hits, five runs and three walks and getting chased with two outs in the first.
Czech Republic – Poland 20-0 (3)
The Czech Republic delivered the second 20-run rule win of the day, as they beat Poland 20-0 in three frames. After a scoreless first the floodgates opened in the second as they scored 19 runs on 11 hits. Another run in the third ended the game in walk-off style. Antonin Novak went 4-for-4 with two doubles and five RBI. Simon Worbis and Adam Vesely had four RBI apiece. Nicolas O’Rourke, Petr Tretera and David Chvatal combined to throw three one-hit innings. O’Rourke struck out five in 1 2/3 innings. Igor Sobczak had the lone hit for Poland.
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.