In a well-played game, Apollo Bratislava twice broke a tie against Barracudas Zurich in the Federation Cup championship game in Kaunas, Lithuania, and Riley Moore delivered the game-winning hit in the bottom of the fifth with a RBI-double, as Slovakian baseball chalked up a win in the “away” pool of the Cup after finishing third at home. In the earlier contest, Kaunas Lituanica earned its first win in the crucial third-place game, with William Gordon and Ethan Skuja combining to shut out Polish Baseball’s Silesia Rybnik in a rematch of the previous day.
Moore earned MVP honors after hitting .500/.600/.818 and delivering the Federation Cup-winning hit. He tied for the tournament lead in RBI (6) and was second in hits (6), doubles (3, tied), and slugging percentage. On the mound, he was the only pitcher with two wins and finished with a 3.75 ERA in 12 innings, striking out 11. No awards for Best Batter or Best Pitcher were given.
Other top batters are worth noting.
- Jeremy Yanow (Kaunas) led in doubles (4), home runs (1, tied), total bases (12), slugging percentage (1.333), and OPS (2.000), finishing second in average (.556).
- Alexander Bruce (Zurich) was tops in hits (8) and average (.571) and was second in total bases (10). He slashed .571/.625/.714.
- Frank Lettieri (Bratislava) was No. 1 in stolen bases (6 in only four games) and tied for second in runs (5) and doubles (3). He hit .333/.412/.533.
- Matej Rudohradský (Bratislava) led in runs (6), hitting .300/.471/.700.
- Silesia Rybnik’s top hitter was Dominik Grzecicha, who posted a line of .444/.545/.667.
In a four-team pool that lasted only four days, with all games played to only seven innings, only two pitchers started more than one game. Several, however, shone.
- Skuja (Kaunas) posted eye-popping numbers across two games, including a start, for the host club. Across 9.2 innings, he recorded 22 of his 29 outs by K, striking out 44.9 percent of all opposing batters. The right-hander finished with a 4.66 ERA and 2.07 WHIP, with batters hitting .286/.388/.333 against him.
- Among the other pitchers with more than a handful of innings, John Inglis (Zurich) had the best bottom-line numbers, finishing with a 1.80 ERA (ranked No. 2 among pitchers with four innings or more), 1.20 WHIP, and 12 strikeouts (second) in 10 innings.
- Moore was first in innings (12) and wins (2) and third in whiffs (11).
For more on the Federation Cup, see our coverage of the Lithuania Group: Introduction [link], Day 1 [link], Day 2 [link], Day 3 [link]. Results from the Federation Cup Slovakia Group are here: Day 1 [link], Day 2 [link], Day 3 [link], Day 4 [link], Day 5 [link].
Box scores can be found here [link]. All games played to seven innings, rather than nine.
Results
June 10
Rybnik 2 – Bratislava 9
Kaunas 3 – Zurich 6
June 11
Rybnik 4 – Zurich 5
Bratislava 10 – Kaunas 3
June 12
Zurich 5 – Bratislava 9
Kaunas 5 – Rybnik 8
June 13
Third: Kaunas 8 – Rybnik 0
First: Zurich 3 – Bratislava 4
Final Standings
| Team | W-L | RF | RA |
| Apollo Bratislava (Slovakia) | 4-0 | 32 | 13 |
| Barracudas Zurich (Switzerland) | 3-1 | 20 | 29 |
| Kaunas Lituanica (Lithuania) | 1-3 | 19 | 24 |
| Silesia Rybnik (Poland) | 1-3 | 14 | 27 |