The U15 European Championship in Chartres and Rouen, France got underway on Tuesday with the first three games of the preliminary round. In Chartres the Czech Republic and France celebrated opening day wins. Both teams will meet on Tuesday afternoon in Rouen. On day one in Rouen defending champion Germany prevailed over Russia. Besides the matchup of day-one winners on Wednesday also Slovenia takes on Austria and Germany squares off against Lithuania, which enters the competition. All games from Chartres are also available via Livestream.
Czech Republic – Slovenia 13-2 (5)
The Czech Republic defeated Slovenia 13-2 in five innings in the opener of the U15 European Championship in Chartres on Tuesday afternoon. They scored in each of the first four innings, highlighted by a six-run rally in the second. Marek Krejricik and Ondrej Lochman scored three runs apiece for the Czech. Both also combined with Martin Pernicka for six RBI. Pitchers David Komorous, Ondrej Chlubna and Michal Kohout allowed just one hit, two runs and two walks in five innings. Zan Primozic took the loss, conceding four hits, eight runs and seven base on balls in 1 2/3 frames.
Germany – Russia 16-6 (6)
Defending champion Germany downed Russia 16-6 in six innings in the afternoon game in Rouen on Tuesday. Germany actually trailed 2-3 midway through the third, but rebounded with 14 runs between the third and the sixth to end the contest by ten-run rule. Yoshua Steigert and Simon Bäumer scored three runs apiece. Ian Post drove in three. Kevin Schnorbach pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief to pick up the win. Pavel Demidov conceded five hits, four runs (3 ER) and two base on balls in 2 1/3 innings to take the loss. Danil Chernov scored twice for Russia.
Austria – France 4-13
Host France had a perfect start into the tournament with a 13-4 victory over Austria in the early evening game in Chartres on Tuesday. Their offense hit on all cylinders from the start, putting runs on the board in each of the first five innings. Lilian Amoros and Louis Brainville combined to score seven of the 13 runs. Nicolas Khoury doubled and drove in three. Brian Fürböck had the lone hit for Austria. Leo Nontanovanh struck out four in four nearly perfect innings to receive the win. His only blemish was a hit by pitch. Marcel Vitale issued two hits, six runs (4 ER) and four base on balls in two innings for the loss.
Standings after Day 1
Schedule for Day 2
Live streaming is available for all games from Chartres at http://www.cmin.tv/ Live play by play, box scores and all statistics are available through the CEB competition website www.baseballstats.eu. A dedicated Facebook page was launched as well is available through www.facebook.com/eurobaseball15U2016.
Photo by U15 European Championship in Chartres