The final saw a sea-saw battle with a pitcher’s duel on the mound. Tobias Kiefer and Heorhii Hvrytishvili went toe to toe for the first six scoreless frames. In the seventh Austria managed to scratch out a run by Marcel Mariette on a RBI single by Julian Faulhaber to score the lone run of the game. Kiefer allowed just two hits and two walks in seven scoreless innings, striking out 12.
Ukraine had won the preliminary round with a perfect 5-0 record, followed by Austria with four wins, as both teams reached the final game. Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and Croatia finished in third, fourth, fifth and sixth.
Complete results, box scores and statistics can be found at www.wbsceurope.org.