The first round ended at the Qualifier European Championship C-Pool in Ljubljana, Slovenia with five games on Thursday. Israel, Romania, Ireland and Slovenia have qualified for the semi-finals, which will be played on Friday.
In the morning Ireland clinched a spot in the semis with a 15-6 rout over Romania. The Irish scored 11 runs in the first. Nathanial Anglin dominated with a home run, a double and seven RBI. Jamie Cuevas and Michael-Anthony Ferrato scored three times apiece. Cuevas also went the distance on the mound to pick up the win. Klaus Nicolici took the loss.
Ireland played a second game due to the rainout on Wednesday in the afternoon. They defeated Hungary 6-2 to finish the first phase with a 3-0 record. This time Ferrato connected for a home run. Anglin went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Daniel Woodburne struck out ten in nine innings to get the win. Attila Varkonyi took the loss.
Israel also stayed undefeated, improving to 3-0 with a 9-3 win over Latvia. Latvia took a 3-0 lead through five and a half innings. Israel tied the contest in the bottom of the sixth and went up with a five-run rally in the seventh. Yotam Ben-Amram picked up the win with four innings of scoreless relief. Simon Rosembaum, David Weiss and Orr Gottlieb scored twice. Kristaps Duselis took the loss.
Before losing to Ireland Hungary had gotten their first win of the tournament, defeating Norway 17-2. Seven runs in the first gave them an early commanding lead. Tomas Radvanyi and Daniel Erdelyi hit home runs and combined for six runs and six RBI. Peter Luptak struck out six in five strong innings for the win. Sven Tonnessen got charged with loss, getting replaced after two outs in the first.
Also Slovenia earned a 17-2 win over a Scandinavian country. They beat Finland by this score in the evening game. Six runs in the first and six in the sixth blew the score wide open. Jakob Trobec drove in three out of the leadoff spot. Matic Jerman and Uros Rudolf crossed the plate for three runs apiece. Bor Starc collected seven strikeouts in a six-inning win. Pertteli Salmenpera took the loss.