Hungary claims victory at U-15 European Baseball Championship Qualifier in Budapest

Hungary reached the finals with a 4-0 record during the preliminary round with a close win over Lithuania on day one and commanding victories against Ukraine, Austria and Croatia in the other three pool play matchups. Austria edged out key victories over Croatia and Lithuania alongside a lopsided affair over Ukraine and the loss to Hungary to advance to the title game.

In the final Martin Morua struck out eight batters in six strong innings allowing just two hits and four walks to lead Hungary to the shutout. Two runs by Andras Virag and Aaron Mercado in the bottom of the third on a fielding error made the difference as Austria’s pitchers Mathias Albert and Klaus Scheicher matched Hungary’s pitching efforts. Austria was looking to rally against Hungary’s closer Tamas Ivanfai in the seventh. Albert and Scheicher both reached scoring position with two outs, but a strikeout ended the comeback attempt with Hungary celebrating the win.

Ukraine, Lithuania and Croatia finished in third, fourth and fifth in the final standings at the U-15 European Baseball Championship Qualifier.

Complete results, box scores and statistics can be found at www.wbsceurope.org.

Photo by Hungarian Baseball and Softball Federation