Kranjski Lisjaki put an exclamation point on its undefeated run through the European Cup, never falling behind against Sweden’s Rättvik Butchers in the championship game thanks to a superb pitching performance by Johan Belisario and Christian Sumoza. Earlier in the day, a back-and-forth game between the Therwill Flyers and the London Mets saw the Swiss baseball club break a 4-4 deadlock through six and fend off a spirited comeback in the third-place game. And, in the fifth-place game, the hosts finished strong in an all-Austria derby, with Diving Ducks Wiener Neustadt upending the Dornbirn Indians.
Belisario and Sumoza each had a superb tournament for the Slovenian baseball heavyweights. A ten-year minor league veteran who topped out in Triple-A, Belisario tossed six one-run innings against the Butchers, who had scored 45 runs in their first four games. He struck out six, improving his pitching line to 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, .118 batting average against, and 15 strikeouts in 10 innings. Meanwhile, Sumoza, himself an ex-Yankees farmhand, earned the save with a trio of three-up, three-down frames, punching out seven of nine hitters. The right-hander’s line for the tournament was remarkable: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 15 K, with an .053/.143/.035 line by opposing batters.
See final results and standings below.
Individual Batting Leaders
- Sam Boermans (Borgerhout) led the tournament in home runs (3, tied), slugging percentage (1.286), and OPS (1.936), and slashed .500/.650/.1.286.
- Bryan Estati (Sundbyberg) led in in home runs (3, tied) and slashed .500/.619/1.188. Quin Cotton (London), who launched all three of his home runs in one game, and Kasey Caras (Lisjaki) also had three homers. Caras led in total bases (22).
- Dariel Rodríguez (Lisjaki) led in walks (6, tied), runs (10, tied), and RBI (12), while hitting .526/.654/.1.000. He was named “Leading Hitter”.
- Kilian Bloat (Lisjaki) led in hits (11) and runs (10, tied), hitting .458/.536/.708.
- Daniel Johnson (Rättvik) led in stolen bases (7) and slashed .444/.500/.611.
- Two-way player Joel Johnson (Rättvik) led in doubles (5) and was second in total bases (21), hitting .476/.500/1.000.
- The MVP was Ricardo Meléndez (Kranjski), who hit .318/.423/.364 with no strikeouts as one of the eight best hitters on the powerful Lisjaki squad. As a catcher-outfielder, he fielded .982.
Individual Pitching Leaders
- Belisario, Joel Johnson, and Hide Oshima (Therwil) all went 2-0.
- Ferlon Gijsbertha (Therwil) led the tournament in innings (11.2) and strikeouts (23), and had a 2.31 ERA.
- Belisario was second in strikeouts (15, tied) and third in innings (10). He was named Best Pitcher.
- Sumoza led in batting average against (.053) and was second in strikeouts (15, tied).
- Joe Cosgrove (London) was second in batting average against (.059) and, like Sumoza, through six scoreless innings, the most by any pitchers.
For more on the European Cup, see our coverage of: Day 1 [link], Day 2 [link], Day 3 [link], Day 4 [link], Day 5 [link]. Box scores can be found here [link].
Playoff Results
June 5
Seventh: Borgerhout 23 – Sundbyberg 21
Semi: Therwil 2 – Kranjski 8
Semi: London 5 – Rättvik 9
June 6
Fifth: Dornbirn 3 – Wiener Neustadt 11
Third: Therwil 11 – London 6
First: Rättvik 1 – Kranjski 5
Final Standings
| Team | W-L | RF | RA |
| Kranjski Lisjaki (Slovenia) | 5-0 | 70 | 18 |
| Rättviks Butchers (Sweden) | 3-2 | 46 | 22 |
| Therwil Flyers (Switzerland) | 3-2 | 31 | 28 |
| London Mets (Great Britain) | 1-4 | 30 | 50 |
| Diving Ducks Wiener Neustadt (Austria) | 2-2 | 39 | 41 |
| Dornbirn Indians (Austria) | 2-2 | 23 | 34 |
| Borgerhout Squirrels (Belgium) | 1-3 | 35 | 58 |
| Sundbyberg Heat (Sweden) | 1-3 | 48 | 71 |