The U18 European Championship continued on Thursday with four preliminary round games. Teams from the Netherlands and Italy improved to 3-0, while for Germany and Sweden the first round already ended. Spain and the Czech Republic also celebrated wins. The semi-finals will be decided on Friday with the final round coming up on Saturday and Sunday.
Spain – Great Britain 3-1
Gustavo Munoz and Alvaro Dominguez combined for a one-hitter to lead Spain to a 3-1 victory over Great Britain. Munoz issued just one hit, an unearned run and three walks in seven frames, while striking out seven. Despite the dominate pitching effort by Spain, the British squad tied the game through an error in the fourth. However RBI singles by Andres Nunez and Jose Gonzalez broke the tie in the fifth and the sixth to seal the first win for Spain in the tournament. Jakob Dean conceded four hits, three runs and six base on balls in six innings to take the loss.
Germany – Italy 1-6
Germany had the upper hand over defending champion Italy through the first six innings, leading 1-0. However four of seven errors occurred in the seventh and eighth, allowing the Squadra Azzurri to put six runs on the board on route to a 6-1 victory. Stefano Berini drove in two. Matthias Zotti earned the win, leading the bullpen, which didn’t allow a hit in the last four frames. Germany’s starter Sean Cowan, who had given up a game-tying home run to Spain in the ninth on Tuesday, issued just one hit and three walks in five innings. Yannic Wildenhain got charged with the loss.
Netherlands – Croatia 16-1 (6)
The Netherlands scored six runs in the first and five in fifth to down Croatia 16-1 in six innings. Menno Lenting and Ties Beeke collected four hits apiece to lead a 18-hit attack by the Dutch. Lenting drove in three. Max Draijer scored three runs. Donny Breek conceded one hit, an unearned run and two walks in four innings for the win. Mateo Pus got charged with the loss.
Sweden – Czech Republic 5-14
The Czech Republic defeated Sweden in the evening game 14-5 to improve to 2-1 in the tournament. Sweden dropped to 1-3 to conclude the first round. Four runs in the fifth and four in the eighth decided the outcome. The Czech team even topped the Dutch with 22 hits. Radim Novotny had five of them. Lukas Mensik and Filip Capka scored three runs each. Kevin Kias scored twice and drove in two for Sweden. Adam Pokorny pitched five two-hit innings for the win. Max Hill took his second loss of the week.
Outlook
On Friday the preliminary round ends with four games. Key matchups will be between France and Spain at 3pm and between Croatia and Czech Republic at 7pm. Both games will determine the second semifinalists besides Italy and the Netherlands. Italy takes on Great Britain at 5pm. The Dutch are back on the field at 11am to play against Russia.
Standings
|
Standing Pool A
|
||||||
|
Pos
|
Team
|
GP
|
WO
|
LO
|
AVG
|
GB
|
|
1
|
 Italy |
3
|
3
|
0
|
1000
|
0
|
|
2
|
 France |
3
|
2
|
1
|
667
|
1
|
|
3
|
 Germany |
4
|
2
|
2
|
500
|
1.5
|
|
4
|
 Spain |
3
|
1
|
2
|
333
|
2
|
|
5
|
 Great Britain |
3
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
|
Standing Pool B
|
||||||
|
Pos
|
Team
|
GP
|
WO
|
LO
|
AVG
|
GB
|
|
1
|
 Netherlands |
3
|
3
|
0
|
1000
|
0
|
|
2
|
 Czech Republic |
3
|
2
|
1
|
667
|
1
|
|
3
|
 Croatia |
3
|
1
|
2
|
333
|
2
|
|
4
|
 Russia |
3
|
1
|
2
|
333
|
2
|
|
5
|
 Sweden |
4
|
1
|
3
|
250
|
2.5
|
Complete results, stats and live play by play are available at www.baseballstats.eu