The U23 European Championship 2019 in Prague, Czech Republic opened with a big surprise as Great Britain defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in a Group A matchup on Wednesday afternoon. Paul Kirkpatrick struck out 12 in a seven-inning complete game, allowing just five hits, a run and a walk. Runs in the third and the fourth were enough to provide enough run support. Matz Schutte got charged with the loss.
In the second game of Group A Germany overcame a 2-4 deficit to beat France 6-4. A four-run fifth inning made the difference with Marco Cardoso providing the big blow with a go-ahead two-run single. He drove in four runs overall as part of a 3-for-3 day. Daniel Harrington earned the win in relief, while Lilian Amoros took the loss.
In Group B host Czech Republic defeated Croatia 10-6 in a slugfest. Six runs in the fifth blew the score open. Croatia put four on the board in the seventh, but it was too little too late. Vojtech Mensik hit a grand slam for the Czech team. Martin Muzik also homered. Andrija Tomic went deep twice for Croatia.
In the evening Belgium edged out Ukraine 4-3. Axel Poesmans scored two of the four Belgian runs. Ukraine threatened to come back in the seventh, but the tying run got thrown out at the plate to end the game.
Complete schedule, results and statistics are available at www.baseballstats.eu. A live stream is offered from selected games through www.baseballsoftball.tv.