Three countries are still in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs of the European Baseball Championship B-Pool in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, but the host nation remained in the pole position after the penultimate day of round robin play against a continually scrappy young Finland team. Earlier, Slovenia were tested by Romania, but its powerful offense delivered consistently in a win.
Finland – Bulgaria
As it did yesterday, the Finnish baseball team jumped out to a big early lead and, once again, Nooa Määttä was a key part of the action, lining a two-run single in the first. Another vital cog in the Suomen Baseball linuep, Ben Bové, who hits in front of Määttä, singled home a run in the second, with Akio Huovinen later making it 5-0 with a base knock to score two.
Errors and walks proved to be an ongoing problem for Finland, however, and Bulgaria took advantage in the bottom of the second, with Viktorio Velichkov driving in the second of two runs with a hit. Down 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth, Bulgaria finally broke out, though only after loading the bases on a dropped fly and two walks. Enter pinch hitter Dimitar Nassapov, who crushed a ball dead up the middle that kept carrying, leaving the park for game-tying grand slam. Michael Tchavdarov then stepped up, and went back-to-back with a round-tripper to right field.
It took an inning, but Finland tied the game back up on a two-out double by José Mesa (no, not THAT José Mesa!) and a single by Bové.
As Blagoevgrad Stadium became increasingly restless, the game remain knotted into the bottom of the eight, when two walks and a misplayed grounder loaded the bases. All havoc broke loose after what ought to have been a sacrifice fly was dropped, two runs scoring in the process. A single from Martin Andonov then gave Bulgaria a three-run lead. Although Määttä followed a Mesa safety with a run-scoring double, closer Evgenii Chernozemsky buckled down and finished with back-to-back strikeouts for the save.
Määttä went 3-for-4 with a walk and four ribbies, while Mesa and Bové had two hits and a stolen base apiece. Mesa also drew a free pass and scored a quartet of runs, while Bové added two RBI. Juho Saarvo was plucky in relief in the middle innings, denying Bulgaria a hit or an earned run over 3.2 frames, though he did walk five.
Teodor Dimitrov was just what the doctor ordered for the home side, entering in the second and delivering 6.1 innings of two-run ball with half a dozen strikeouts, earning the win.
Romania – Slovenia
Matic Lešnjak opened the scoring in the bottom of the initial frame with his first triple of the day, scoring leadoff hitter Žiga Verbek, who had singled. Romania immediately equalized, a dropped flyball the main culprit.
From there, both sides had their chances over the rest of the game. However, although Romania had a runner on base in all but one remaining inning, it could not push across a run, whereas Slovenia scored in four consecutive frames beginning with the third, and came out the other side as winners. The result eliminated Romania from contention for the B-Pool championship game and qualification to the European Baseball Championship, something it has never achieved.
Žan Primožič was superb for Slovenia, allowing only the unearned run in a complete game effort, needing 115 pitches for the nine frames. He allowed eight hits but no walks, and sent down 10 on strikes. Eduard Pîrvu matched him over the final frames after entering for Romania, striking out two in three shutout frames. Radu-Alexandru Frangu and Ionut Cioabă had two hits for Romania, while Lešnjak had two triples. Martin Godnič joined him as the other Bulgarian with two base knocks.
The final day features an all-important showdown between Slovenia and Serbia, the winner of which will almost certainly punch a ticket to the title bout. Should Bulgaria continue its unbeaten run against Romania, it would advance to the playoff game as the home team. A loss, however, would result in a two-way tie, to be determined by total quality balance (run differential by out rather than inning).
Box scores are available here [link]. Previous coverage includes: Preview [link], Day 3 [link]. See also coverage of the Baseball Euros Poland Qualifier: Day 4 [link].
Results and Schedule
July 30
Romania 1 – Slovenia 6
Finland 8 – Bulgaria 10
July 31
Slovenia – Serbia
Bulgaria – Romania
Standings
| Team | W-L | RF | RA |
| Bulgaria | 3-0 | 26 | 16 |
| Serbia | 2-1 | 23 | 21 |
| Slovenia | 2-1 | 27 | 11 |
| Romania | 1-2 | 17 | 17 |
| Finland | 0-4 | 23 | 51 |