From November 28 to December 20 the Asia Winter Baseball League takes place in Taichung and Dou-Liou, Taiwan. Team Europe was invited for the first time to compete against squads from NPB, KBO and CPBL. 16 games are on the schedule for the European team. Games will be streamed through www.cpbltv.com. Owen Ozanich of the Rouen Huskies is also part of the team and will send us first-hand impressions for Mister-Baseball.com.
Team Europe dropped yet another game, this time 8-4 against Korea. Dutch starter Lars Huijer (3.27 ERA) pitched five solid innings, giving up just one run while striking out 5 before Korea got to Europe’s bullpen. Offensively Urving Kemp and Maik Ehmcke contributed two hits apiece. Europe mounted a late inning rally, scoring two in the 9th, but it would prove to be too little, too late. The players will head to Taipei on Tuesday on their off day to do some sightseeing before taking on Japan on Wednesday. First pitch 11 AM in Europe.