The preliminary round at the U18 European Championship in Gijon, Spain ended on Friday with four games. The Czech Republic earned the last spot in the semi-finals with a slugfest win over host Spain in the evening. The Czech team will face defending champion in semi-final two on Saturday evening. The Netherlands and Germany will square off in the afternoon. In the other three games on Friday, Italy, France and the Dutch team celebrated wins.
Great Britain – Italy 1-14 (8)
Italy completed the first round with a perfect 4-0 record after a 14-1 blowout against Great Britain on Friday morning. They took a quick 3-0 lead in the second and built up the score steady until the mercy rule kicked in after the eighth. Gabriele Angioi and Daniel Xavier Monti scored three times apiece. Nicola Zidda conceded just one hit, one run and seven walks in six innings for the win. He struck out nine. Harry O’Brien gave up five hits, five runs and nine base on balls in four innings.
Sweden – France 3-10
France improved their record to 2-2 in the tournament with a 10-3 win over Sweden in the second morning game on Friday. Seven runs in the fifth blew a close game wide open. Leo Jiminian and Clement Esteban each had three RBI. Kevin Kias collected three hits for Sweden. Yoan Antonac gave up four hits, two runs and a walk in five innings to pick up the win. Jan Mikael Johnson got charged with the loss, after issuing three hits, two runs and three walks in one-plus innings.
Lithuania – Netherlands 3-16 (7)
The Netherlands won Group B with a 16-3 win over Lithuania in the afternoon game in Gijon on Friday. It was the fourth win in four games for the Dutch juniors. Four runs in the first decided things quickly. Six in the seventh ended the contest due to ten-run rule. Aldrich de Jongh walked five times, reached base in all six of his plate appearances and scored four runs. Oliver van der Wijst had four hits, four runs and three RBI in five at-bats. Scott Prins conceded five hits and three runs in six innings to receive the win. Matas Sirgedas surrendered 12 hits, 16 runs (11 ER) and eight walks in 6 1/3 innings to take the loss.
Spain – Czech Republic 11-13
The Czech Republic ended all hopes of a host participation in the semi-finals with a 13-11 win in a slugfest over Spain on Friday evening. In the last game of the preliminary round the Czech team scored ten combined runs in the fourth and fifth to decide the outcome early. Spain tried to mount a comeback, but the deficit was too high to overcome even though they made things interesting in the end. Jakub Grepl drove in four runs for the Czech. Lukas Trunkat went 1-for-4 with two walks, three runs scored and three RBI. Vojtech Mensik also scored thrice. Eloi Puigferrer drove in two for Spain. Alex Flores scored twice. Kevin Rodriguez went 4-for-5 with two triples and two RBI.
Standings after the first round
Schedule for Day 6
The complete schedule, live play by play and all statistics are available through www.baseballstats.eu. The official website of the tournament and the Facebook page of the local baseball federation are offering further information.