The European Championship Juniors in Bonn, Germany start on Monday, August 3 with ten teams, split into two pools. After the preliminary round the top two teams of each group advance into the semi-finals next Saturday, August 8 with the championship game being played one day later. Hosts of the tournament are the Baseball-Bundesliga club Bonn Capitals, the German Baseball and Softball Federation and the Confederation of European Baseball. All games will be played at the Rheinaue facilities, which also saw the European Championship Seniors in 2001. In 1999 the Juniors last made their stop in Germany, when Mainz and Wiesbaden were appointed to organize the event.
In 2007 Italy won the title with a 4-2 win over Russia in the finals in Rosmalen, Netherlands. On the mound were Nikolai Lobanov (RUS), Matteo Pizziconi and Luca Panerati (both ITA), who now are or were with Major League organizations. The Dutch team finished in third, right in front of the Czech Republic. These four teams also should be back being favored in the tournament. The European Championship Juniors already lost its probable star shortly before the event, as Max Kepler-Rozycki, who had signed for $800,000 with the Minnesota Twins a few weeks back, cannot play for home team Germany due to an injury.
Pool A:
Italy
Spain
Belgium
France
Czech Republic
Pool B:
Germany
Netherlands
Russia
Slovakia
Ukraine
Schedule:
August 3:
10:00 Russia – Slovakia
11:30 Italy – Spain
14:00 Belgium – France
17:15 Ukraine – Germany