The Super 6 Baseball tournament in Hoofddorp, Netherlands started on Tuesday with three games. Italy and Spain kicked off the event with lopsided wins over Germany and Belgium. In the evening the Netherlands seemingly cruised to an easy win over the Czech Republic, but the Czech made things interesting in the end.
Germany 000 010 0 1 4 0 Italy 012 005 3 11 15 0
Italy used five home runs including a mercy rule walk-off by former Major Leaguer Chris Colabello to dismantle Germany 11-1 in seven innings. Andrew Maggi, Nicola Garbella, Alex Liddi and Leonardo Zileri also put the ball over the fence. Luis Lugo repeated his performance from the Honkbalweek and issued just one run on three hits and two walks in six dominant innings. Daniel Thieben took the loss for Germany, which used five pitchers in the game plus usual outfielder/first baseman Maik Ehmcke. Vincent Ahrens scored the lone run.
Belgium 100 000 0 1 6 3 Spain 242 140 X 13 14 0
Spain scored in each of the first five innings en route to a 13-1 blowout against Belgium. Belgium even took the lead in the first, but wouldn’t score again in the remainder of the game. Luis Guillorme, Yancarlo Franco and Engel Beltre hit home runs for Team Espagna. Daniel Martinez collected three hits and three RBI. Lowuin Sacramento pitched six solid innings for the win. Kenny van den Branden was charged with eight runs (7 ER) on six hits and two walks in 2 1/3 innings to take the loss.
Czech Republic 000 001 050 6 7 2 Netherlands 004 012 00X 7 13 0
Also the evening matchup looked like a one-sided affair, as the Netherlands led 4-0 after three innings and 7-1 after six. But the Czech Republic scored five runs in the eighth to make things interesting in a 6-7 loss. Kevin Kelly recovered and retired the side in the ninth to close the game out. Curt Smith homered for the Dutch team and drove in three runs overall. Dwayne Kemp doubled twice in a three-hit performance. Orlando Yntema struck out nine in six strong innings. Radim Chroust took the loss.
On day two of the Super 6 Belgium takes on Italy, Czech Republic plays against Spain and Germany faces the Netherlands. Live play by play is available through www.baseballstats.eu. Livestreams are offered at www.baseballsoftball.tv.