Lithuania edges Poland to win Baseball European Championship Qualifier in Kutno

It was a close final game between the two opponents. In a back-and-forth battle, the lead changed several times. After six innings the two teams were locked in a 5-5 tie. With four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and leading 10-5 after eight innings, Lithuania seemed to secured the win for good. But Poland made things interesting in the top of the ninth, when they scored four runs and closed the deficit to a run. However in the end a fielder’s choice at third base ended the contest with the Poland leaving the bases loaded.

Dovydas Zakaras, Vytas Valincius and Domas Kamandulis hit home runs for Lithuania. Jakub Wojtczak, Arthur Kowara and Filip Sarota went deep for Poland. Former Major Leaguer Dovydas Neverauskas struck out ten in six innings in a no decision for Lithuania. Eimantas Zickus earned the win. Szymon Dwojakowski got charged with the loss. Polish starter Michal Sosna also collected ten strikeouts in five innings.

Overall four teams competed in the four-day qualifier. Romania and Finland finished in third and fourth place in the final standings of the tournament. Romania’s Eduard Pirvu set the statistical highlight of the week with a perfect game performance in a 9-0 shutout over Finland. But a 17-4 loss to Poland denied Romania’s entry to the final.

Complete results and statistics can be found at www.wbsceurope.org. Games were streamed live through www.baseballeurope.tv.

Photo by Piotr Novak