The preliminary phase at the U12 European Championship in Trebic ended with five games on Friday. Defending champion and host Czech Republic, as well as first-ever participant Germany already had secured a spot in the final on Thursday. Both teams prepared for the Gold Medal Game with lopsided victories. Additionally France, Belarus and Russia picked up wins on the fifth day of the competition. The Gold Medal Game is set for Saturday at 4pm. Germany will have home field advantage after winning the draw of lots.
France – Lithuania 14-7
France scored 12 runs in the first three frames of a 14-7 win over Lithuania to improve to 3-2 and reach the game for fifth place. Lithuania will play for 9th after dropping to 1-4. Highlight of the early rallies was a three-run home run by Pierre Doat. Tanguy Meurant scored three times for France. Titas Vaitkevicius went 3-for-3 with a double, a run and a RBI for Lithuania. Amina Taleb earned the win. She issued three hits and two runs in 2 1/3 innings of relief. Andrius Stravinskas surrendered nine hits, 12 runs (6 ER) and three base on balls in 2 1/3 frames to take the loss.
Poland – Belarus 4-16 (5)
Belarus picked up its second win in four games with a 16-4 rout against Poland. Poland remained winless in the tournament. Belarus scored six runs in the first and added three and seven in the third and fourth to run away with the victory. Aliaksandr Shostka triple and doubled to drive in five runs. Yan Papruha collected four hits and three runs. Igor Olewicz hit a home run for Poland. Danila Bobryk conceded five hits, three runs and a walk in four innings to pick up the win. Franciszek Dudek gave up six hits, six runs and a base on balls in one inning to take the loss.
Romania – Germany 2-35 (3)
Germany hit four home runs to overpower Romania 35-2. It was the fifth win in as many games for the German squad. 12 runs in the second and 20 in the third blew the score wide open and ended the contest through 20-run mercy rule. Paul Schmitz (2), Moritz van Bergen und Yannic Walther went deep. Van Bergen and Walther had six RBI apiece. Tristan Russel scored five times. Noah Kavak gave up two hits, two runs and a walk in two innings to receive the win. Andrei Trifan got charged with ten hits, 14 runs and three base on balls in 1 2/3 innings to take the loss.
Slovakia – Czech Republic 0-25 (4)
The Czech Republic joined Germany as undefeated teams after the preliminary round with a 25-0 shutout against Slovakia. Slovakia finished the first round 1-3. Seven runs in the first and 14 in the fourth decided the outcome. 16 different players crossed the plate for the Czech team. Adam Potocek drove in four. Michal Malat homered and scored three times. Adam Vesely struck out three in a scoreless frame to earn the win in relief. Markus Racik took the loss for Slovakia, allowing seven hits, ten runs (6 ER) and four base on balls in two-plus innings.
Ukraine – Russia 1-17 (4)
Russia improved their record for the tournament to 4-1 with a 17-1 win over Ukraine. It was their fourth straight win after losing the opener to Germany on Monday. Seven runs in the first and nine combined in the third and fourth blew the game open. All nine players in the lineup of Russia crossed the plate for runs. Ivan Solomakhin hit a three-run home run and drove in four overall. He also scored thrice. Enrique Milanes Sevilya struck out four in two scoreless innings of strong relief to pick up the win. Matvii Serdechnyi scored the lone run for the Ukraine. Illia Haran gave up 13 runs (12 ER) on eight hits and three base on balls to take the loss.
Final Standings First Round
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.