2016 Federations Cup Qualifier, 2017 Federations Cup, 2018 CEB Cup, 2019 European Champions Cup? The Borgerhout Squirrels defeated the Bonn Capitals 2-0 in the final of the 2018 CEB Cup in Ostrava, Czech Republic on Saturday evening. Its their third win at the club tournament in European Baseball in three straight seasons.
They defeated a strong German team thanks to stellar pitching of Kenny van den Branden and former Major Leaguer Romulo Sanchez. Van den Branden, who pitched for the third time in five days, pitched seven scoreless innings. Sanchez relieved him in the eighth, one day after throwing 145 pitches in a complete game semi-final win over the Templiers Senart.
Bonn’s starter Riley Barr matched Van den Branden in the beginning and was even more dominant. However Borgerhout got together a series of timely hits in the seventh and broke the scoreless tie with a two-run single by Joannes Ochoa Blanco. Then Sanchez came in and shut the door.
Arrows Ostrava finished in third place ahead of the Templiers Senart after an 8-0 shutout in the bronze medal game. Biotechkomanda KNTU prevailed 5-4 over the Olimpija Karlovac, sending Croatia to the Federations Cup.
Final Standings:
Complete results, box scores and statistics are available at www.baseballstats.eu