On day one of the 2019 European Champions Cup in Bologna and Castenaso, Italy the team from the Dutch Hoofdklasse won their duels against the Italian Serie A1 teams. In the afternoon Curacao Neptunus edged out Parmaclima 2-1. Dwayne Kemp had a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth to provide the game-winner for Rotterdam. Orlando Yntema, Diegomar Markwell and Kevin Kelly combined to keep Parma to four hits and an unearned run in nine innings. Marc-Andre Habeck got charged with the loss.
In the evening L&D Amsterdam celebrated a 2-1 win over host Unipol Bologna. Solo home runs by Sharlon Schoop and Denzel Richardson in the second and fourth gave the Pirates an early advantage. Francesco Fuzzi answered for Bologna with a solo shot in the sixth, but they weren’t able to score again afterwards. Kevin Heijstek hurled six strong innings for the win. Raul Rivero got charged with the loss.
In the other matchups, which were played in Castenaso, runs reached the scoreboard easily. In the morning game Arrows Ostrava dominated the Deurne Spartans 17-2. Alex Rubannowitz went 4-for-5 with a home run to lead the Arrows offense. Seven runs in the third and five in the fifth did the heavy lifting. In the afternoon game the Rouen Huskies came back from a 1-7 deficit after two innings to prevail 11-9 over the Bonn Capitals. The top four of the Huskies lineup combined to go 8-for-17 with nine runs scored and seven RBI. Angel Soriano, David Gauthier and Bastien Dagneau hit home runs. Maurice Wilhelm had three RBI for Bonn.
Results and Schedule First Round:
The complete schedule and live play by play for all games is available through www.baseballstats.eu.
Photo by Lorenzo Bellocchio