ASD Parma, HCAW reach final of Baseball European Champions Cup 2023
Defending champion ASD Parma is returning to the final of the Baseball EuropeanChampions Cup 2023 after blowing by the Bonn Capitals in the semifinal on Friday. They will meet HCAW in Bussum, after they edged out the Amsterdam Pirates in the second semifinal. In the relegation round the two Czech teams Draci Brno and Arrows Ostrava celebrated victories.
As probably expected on paper the semifinal between the two Dutch teams in the competition and fellow co-hosts didn’t disappoint with excitement, as extra-innings were needed to determine the winner. On Friday evening in Bussum HCAW defeated the Amsterdam Pirates 4-3 thanks to a hit by pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth inning. Amsterdam had taken a quick 3-0 lead after two and a half innings thanks to home runs by Denzel Richardson and Luca Pastor. But HCAW then shut down the Pirates offense and slowly came back to eventually tie the contest in the eighth inning through a RBI single by Delano Selassa. In the tenth Julian Goins moved the tie-breaker runner from second to third on a sac bunt. Amsterdam then decided to intentionally walk the next two batters. With the first pitch Kevin Dirksen got hit to force in Bob van der Meer.
Last year ASD Parma and the Bonn Capitals also met in the semifinals of the Champions Cup. While that game went into extra-innings, Friday’s affair was pretty much the opposite. Parma took a quick 6-1 lead after two innings and added seven more between the fifth and seventh to run away to a 13-3 final result and returning to the finals. Manuel Timo led the way with a home run, three runs scored and three RBI for the defending champion. Stefano Desimoni collected four hits and three runs out of the leadoff spot. Terrell Joyce and Anthony Rodriguez Klinzing had solo home runs for Bonn. Matteo Bocchi picked up the win with four scoreless innings of relief. Jordan Lucas got charged with the loss.
Draci Brno
defeated the Rouen Huskies at the start of the relegation round on Friday
afternoon in Amsterdam by a score of 6-1. For Draci it was their second win in
the tournament and they improved to 1-1 in the relegation round, while the Huskies
remained winless and dropped to 0-2. Brno scored five of the six runs in the
first two frames to decide things early with Arnost Dubovy’s two-run double the
big hit. Filip Mostek scored twice. Andres Angulo had the lone run for Rouen.
David Mergans earned the win with five one-hit innings of relief. Alexander
MacKinnon got charged with the loss.
Arrows
Ostrava beat the Untouchables Paderborn 7-5 in the relegation game on Friday
afternoon in Bussum. Arrows scored four runs in the first and led 6-2 after
seven innings, when the Untouchables made things interesting. But after closing
the gap to 5-6 in the eighth, Ostrava added an insurance run and secured the
win with a scoreless ninth. Jakub Kubica had three hits for Arrows and a RBI.
Matyas Kozel scored twice. Christiaan Beyers went 3-for-4 with a home run, two
runs scored and three RBI for Paderborn. Matyas Pjontek earned the win, Matt
Kemp took the loss.
Outlook
The Gold Medal Game at the Baseball European Champions Cup 2023 will take place on Saturday at 6pm in Bussum. Defending champion ASD Parma is looking to pick up their third consecutive title and 16th overall in their team’s history. HCAW meanwhile never won the Champions Cup and lastly reached the final in 2005 in Rotterdam, when they lost to Neptunus. In the bronze medal game the Bonn Capitals and Amsterdam Pirates will square off at 2pm in Amsterdam. In the relegation round at 10.30am Draci Brno will face Arrows Ostrava, while the Rouen Huskies take on the Untouchables Paderborn.
