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.
Europe vs KBO 9-9
Kemp LF, Mercuri SS, Mineo C, Weijgertse 1B, Giordani CF, Poma DH, Ehmke RF, Chroust 3B, Noguera 2B, Huijer P
Team Europe battled Korea to a 9-9 tie in their first game in Taiwan on Saturday. The back and forth game ended in a draw in accordance with the Asian Winter League’s rules. Korea jumped out to an early lead off of starter Lars Huijer. Owen Ozanich (3 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) kept Europe in the game until Kevin Weijgertse homered to tied the game in the seventh inning. Team Europe plays again Sunday afternoon in Taichung versus Chinese Taipei.
Europe vs Chinese Taipei 1-5
Fernandes RF, Mercuri SS, Giordani CF, Weijgertse 1B, Poma LF, Mineo C, Howard DH, Gerard 3B, Martone 2B, Rietel P
Team Europe dropped their second game of the 2015 Asian Winter League by a final score of 5-1 against Chinese Taipei. Maickel Rietel started for Europe and took the loss. Chinese Taipei’s pitching staff did a good job of quieting Europe’s offense. Europe has it’s work cut out for them on Monday as they will face NPB (Japan). The two teams will head from Taichung to nearby Douliou Stadium (15,000 capacity). Game 3 starts at 6 PM in Taiwan, (11 AM in Europe).
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