Introducing the teams in Group B at the U-18 Baseball European Championship

The best-ranked team in Group B according to last year's tournament is Italy, which won the silver medal. In total, the team has 28 medals from the junior championships, including 13 gold and silver medals and 2 bronze medals. The Italians are 17th in the WBSC rankings.

"The Italian U18 baseball team will be a solid and consistent group. The team has a solid defense and the offense will be capable of manufacturing runs throughout the tournament. We selected more pitchers as well as players who can both play as a position player and can pitch on the mound," said manager Francesco Aluffi as he introduced his team.

The 2021 bronze medal team, Germany, is also in the same group. It holds three third places so far and is 18th in the WBSC rankings.

"We are very excited to face highly competitive already in the group phase. We are known for an aggressive style. Most of the players and coaches have been playing together since the U-12 level which is probably our biggest strength," says German team manager George Bull.

Belgium won their participation in the Euro in the Czechia only this year in the qualification in Trnava (LINK), topping Ukraine 6-5 in the final. Belgium did not compete in the Championship last year but has a historic silver medal from 1980 and bronzes from 1979 and 1992. The Belgians are currently 24th in the world rankings.

Israel is still waiting for a medal from the European Championships in this age category, the best finish is 7th, unlike the senior category, in which a silver medal and the one European ticket for the Tokyo Olympics were won. Israel is 20th in the WBSC rankings.

The lowest ranked team in the tournament is Ireland, in 41st place. At the U18 European Championships, the best ranking so far was 6th, and they did not play in the 2021 tournament.

The Czech team is certainly looking forward to competing in a home environment in Ostrava. The Czechs finished 6th in the losers' bracket at the last tournament, but have a total of seven valuable metals from the European Championship for this age category, the last one, a bronze, was won in 2018.

"We will try to play our best baseball for the Czech fans to enjoy it as much as we did. I think our strongest point will be our defense and aggressive baserunning because we have many fast players on the team," said Petr Čech, the coach of the Czech team.

The team rosters, schedule, and more are available on the competition website on the WBSC Europe website.

Evženie Votinská
Photo by Tomáš Icík