Spain qualified for the U15 Baseball Euros by winning the Schwechat, Austria, B Pool title in a convincing championship game victory over the host nation. Earlier in the day, Russia claimed third with a big win over Slovakia, and Croatia took fifth with a simmilar result against Hungary as the first of two Under-15 European Baseball Championship qualifiers came to an end.
Gonzálo Herrero collected his second-straight two-hit game for Spain in support of Urbez Diarte, who allowed only one hit over five scoreless innings, racking up six Ks. Tomo Pietraszkiewicz had a pair of singles for Austria.
Iaroslav Lukin had a double and a single for Russia, one of four players with a two-hit game for the bronze medallists. Stepan Kolobaev, Kirill Shubin, and Ilia Khrulev also joined in the hit parade. Sergei Podolian was effectively wild in the win.
Vito Vlatković notched four hits, three stolen bases, three runs, and four RBI for Croatia, with Matej Bauk turning in one of the finest pitching performances of the U15 Baseball Euros B Pools: five innings, two hits, one unearned run, one walk, and 14 strikeouts. Gábor Farkas was the unlucky loser, striking out six in 4.1 innings, allowing two earned runs.
Box scores are available here [link]. Previous coverage of the Austria U15 Baseball Qualifier: Day 5 [link]. See also coverage of the Belgium U15 Baseball Qualifier: Day 5 [link].
Offensive Leaders (two plate appearances per team’s game minimum)
- Roman Aksenov (Russia) was named “Leading Hitter” for the tournament after topping qualified batters in average, on-base percentage, and OPS, tying for the lead in walks (6). He hit .667/.846/1.167.
- Cedrik Moczkowski (Austria) led in slugging percentage and total bases (13), and tied for the lead in hits (7), doubles (2), triples (2), slashing .636/.692/1.182.
- Luka Blanuša (Croatia) was one of three players to hit a home run and tied for second in total bases (10), hitting .545/.583/.909.
- Vito Vlatković (Croatia) led in stolen bases (9) and slashed .400/.455/.400.
- Jass Vargas (Spain) was tops in runs (9) and RBI (9), tying for second in swipes (7).
- Eli Reinoso (Hungary) tied for the lead in triples (2) and hit .556/.556/1.000, finishing fourth in OPS.
- Jamie Chen-Blešić (Austria) was third in OPS, posting a .600/.714/1.000 slash line.
Pitching Leaders (four innings minimum)
Note that ERA figures are incorrect on tournament page, but have been listed correctly here.
- Matej Bauk (Croatia) was undisputedly the most impressive pitcher, leading the tournament with 21 strikeouts in only eight innings, winning two games (one of three), and posting a 1.12 ERA (fourth), 0.88 WHIP (third), and .156/.250/.156 opponents’ batting line.
- Urbez Diarte (Spain) claimed MVP honors after some excellent work of his own, leading the tournament in ERA after failing to allow a runner to score in 8.1 innings. He struck out 14 (fourth) and surrendered a tournament-leading .133/.212/.133 triple slash to opposing hitters, with hit 0.86 WHIP coming in second.
- Artsiom Nasinski (Belarus) was second in strikeouts (16), leading in innings (9.1), and registering a 1.93 ERA and .133/.297/.200, with opponents’ average tying for the lead.
- Gábor Farkas (Hungary) was third in strikeouts (15), firing 8.1 innings of 3.24 ERA-ball.
- Sergei Podolian (Russia) was third in ERA (1.04) and fifth in strikeouts (13).
- Patrik Tietz (Slovakia) had the best WHIP (0.83) and was the third pitcher with two wins. Hitters managed a .158/.238/.158 mark with eight whiffs in six innings, spread across three games.
- Oskar-Time Kampichler won “Best Pitcher” honors, though he did not appear in any Top 10 lists of pitching statistics with the exception of ERA, with four shutout innings in his only game.
Playoffs Schedule and Results
July 25
Fifth: Croatia 13 – Hungary 1 (5)
Third: Russia 14 – Slovakia 1 (5)
Final: Austria 1 – Spain 7
Final Standings
| Team | W-L | RF | RA |
| Spain | 5-0 | 79 | 13 |
| Austria | 4-1 | 60 | 17 |
| Russia | 3-2 | 63 | 29 |
| Slovakia | 2-3 | 29 | 56 |
| Croatia | 2-2 | 44 | 46 |
| Hungary | 1-3 | 21 | 54 |
| Belarus | 1-3 | 25 | 45 |
| Bulgaria | 0-4 | 13 | 74 |