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.
Japan blanked Europe on Tuesday 6-0 behind strong pitching and timely hitting. Dutch starter Maickel Rietel pitched his best game of the winter league, going five innings, allowing just one run, striking out three while walking only one. As was the case the prior day, Europe’s bullpen was it’s achillies heal. Offensively Chris Howard went 1-for-3, raising his team leading average to .370. Europe takes the field one final time Wednesday against the home team CPBL. Rouen Huskies pitcher Owen Ozanich is scheduled to start.