After eight of the first ten games at the U12 European Championship in Trebic, Czech Republic were decided by mercy rule, only one game ended prematurely on day three of the preliminary round on Wednesday. Germany blew by Lithuania in four innings to remain undefeated in Pool B. Additionally the Czech Republic prevailed in a key matchup over Austria. Russia, Slovakia and France also celebrated victories.
Poland – Slovakia 11-21
In the longest game of the tournament so far Slovakia won 21-11 in a slugfest over Poland. Slovakia scored in six of the seven innings played. Poland actually led 7-5 after the second, but the opposing side answered right away. Filip Zrubec scored five times. Nikolas Nespala drove in four. Franciszek Dudek had four RBI for Poland. Samuel Daek picked up the win. Igor Olewicz got charged with the loss.
Russia – Romania 10-2
Nine different players scored for Russia, as they received their second in in three games with a 10-2 victory over Romania. A five-run third decided the outcome early and gave Russia a 7-0 lead en route to the win. Fedor Kolobaev and Ilia Potikhonin had two RBI apiece. Petronel Ivan Razvan had three hits for Romania. After Alexandr Chernov had conceded just one hit and three walks in three scoreless frames to start the game, Mikhail Luchaev came in an earned the win. Gabriel Ionescu took the loss.
France – Ukraine 10-7
France came back from 1-5 and 2-7 deficits against the Ukraine for a 10-7 victory in the afternoon game on field one in Trebic. A four-run fourth frame decided the outcome in favor of the French team. Tanguy Meurant went 3-for-5 with a triple, two runs scored and a RBI. Thomas Demory had two RBI. Dmytro Yerofeiev and Dmytro Terekhin had two RBI apiece for the Ukraine. Yerofeiev also got charged with the loss. Eliaz Jule picked up the win.
Czech Republic – Austria 9-2
In a semi-final like matchup between the Czech Republic and Austria the hosts prevailed 9-2 for their second win in two games. After Austria took a quick lead in the top of the first, the Czech team answered with two runs in the bottom half. After raising the lead to 3-1 in the second six combined runs in the fifth and sixth blew the score open. Michal Zelenka and David Chavtal had two hits, two runs and two RBI each. Nicolas O’Rourke reached base in all four of his plate appearances. Benjamin Pfortner scored both runs for Austria. Tereza Sustrova allowed eight hits, two runs (1 ER) and a walk in 6 1/3 innings, missing the first complete game of the tournament by two outs. Eoghan McGarry took the loss, conceding four hits, three runs and four walks in two innings.
Lithuania – Germany 0-29 (4)
Germany improved to 3-0 with a 29-0 rout against Lithuania in the evening game on field two on Wednesday. 19 runs in the fourth ended the game early due to mercy rule. Kalle Michel continued his strong tournament with four hits, five runs and three RBI. He is now 10-for-11 in the event. Niklas Rossius scored five runs as well and drove in four. Yannic Walther and Moritz van Bergen also collected four RBI apiece. Noah Kavak and Tristan Russel combined to throw four scoreless one-hit frames. Dovydas Vaitkevicius got charged with the loss.
Standings
Schedule
Complete schedule, statistics and live play by play are available through www.baseballstats.eu. More information is also available through the official Facebook page of the competition.