U-18 Baseball European Championship got underway in sunny Regensburg on Monday

Austria – Spain 3-12 (Box score)

Spain needed three innings to get their offense going, but erupted for six runs in the fourth en route to a 12-3 victory. Leadoff Anderson Pena led the way with three hits, including two home runs, and six RBI. Santiago Murga picked up the win, while Klaus Scheicher got charged with the loss.

Belgium – Netherlands 3-13 (Box score)

The Netherlands won the Benelux derby by a score of 13-3 against Belgium in the second game of the day. The Dutch team scored in five of the six innings played and were on the verge of a 10-0 victory. But Belgium avoided the ten-run rule with three runs in the fifth due to an error on two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Djevan Jansen struck out six in five innings of three-hit ball for the win. Tyrell Mercado Reyes scored three runs and drove in four. Lucas Lorrentop got charged with the loss.

Israel – Italy 0-7 (Box score)

Italy celebrated a 7-0 shutout over Israel in their first game on Monday afternoon. Two runs in the third and four in the fifth decided the outcome on offense. Italy’s pitching meanwhile dominated on the mound, by combining for 14 strikeouts, while allowing just two hits and five walks. Giacomo Taschin earned the win. Aviv Bobrov took the loss for Israel.

France – Sweden 11-5 (Box score)

France had a quick start in their game against Sweden, scoring 11 runs in the first four innings for an 11-5 victory. Jordan Ouanyou hit a home run, scored twice and drove in four. Seven different players scored for the French juniors, four of them twice. Karl Eidem had two hits and three RBI for Sweden. Eloi Baisse-Depontieu inherited the win. Erik Rader got charged with the loss for Sweden.

Germany – Croatia 15-0 (Box score)

Germany had the perfect beginning into the U-18 Baseball European Championship on home soil, defeating Croatia 15-0 in four innings and needing only 1 hour and 22 minutes for the first victory. Germany scored nine runs alone in the first inning, highlighted by a grand slam home run by Kenny Fermin Giere. After one run in the second, they scored five times in the third to seal the mercy-rule shortened win. Pitchers Jan-Luca Vogt and Pepe Stockhaus combined to keep Croatia to a walk in the four innings played.

Great Britain – Czechia 4-2 (Box score)

The evening game on Field 1 was the closest game of the day, as Czechia and Great Britain battled back and forth for seven exciting innings in the Group B matchup. In the end the British team prevailed 4-2. Colin Richard Rebel pitched a gem, allowing only two runs on three hits, while striking out nine, going the distance. Great Britain scored runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth, while Czechia briefly led 2-1 in the fourth. William John Kremer went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Filip Kubicek homered for Czechia.

Outlook

On Tuesday the second day of the preliminary round gets kicked off with a matchup between Netherlands and France at 10:00, followed by contest between Italy and Austria at 11:30. In the afternoon Sweden faces Great Britain at 14:00 and Croatia takes on Israel at 15:30. In the evening at 18:00 Spain will square off against Germany and Czechia plays against Belgium at 19:30. All games are available through live play by play at www.wbsceurope.org. Livestreaming is being offered at www.baseballeurope.tv.

Photo by Legionaere