Europe’s Starting Lineup for Game 2 against Japan #EURvsJPN

Manager Steve Janssen and his coaching staff have announced their lineup for today’s game two of the Global Baseball Match between Europe and Japan. The European squad will be the home team. Alessandro Vaglio (second base, Italy), Curt Smith (first base, Netherlands), Kalian Sams (left field, Netherlands), Yurendell De Caster (DH, Netherlands), Oscar Angulo (shortstop, Spain) and Stefano Desimoni (center field, Italy) return to the lineup.

New starters will be Michael Duursma (Netherlands) at third base, Mario Chiarini (Italy) in right field and Blake Ochoa (Spain) behind the plate. Czech Republic’s late addition to the roster, Jakub Sladek, should be expected to receive an at-bat as a pinch hitter later in the game. He didn’t play yesterday. As starting pitcher Diegomar Markwell will take the mound in the first inning.

On Tuesday Europe was in control of the game for seven-plus innings until Japan rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth for a 4-3 win. The host at the Tokyo Dome once again is the favorite, but Europe showed that it is playing at the same level. Eurosport 2 once again will broadcast the game live at 10am CET.