Italy – Hungary 16-6 (Box score)
Italy
scored in each of the five innings played in the Wednesday morning game in
Trnava to beat Hungary 16-6. Four runs apiece in the first and fifth and five
in the third blew the score open. Hungary came through on offensive with two
runs each in the first, third and fourth frames, but wasn’t able to keep
Italy’s offense in check. Andrea Destro, Alessandro Garavaglia and Michael
Cifalino scored three runs each for Italy. Garavaglia also had four RBI.
Benedek Peller highlighted the Hungarian offense with a home run, two runs
scored and two RBI. Marko Morua also scored twice. Italy improved to 2-0, while
Hungary sits at 0-2 after two games.
Germany – Czechia 2-12 (Box score)
In a
matchup between familiar foes – Germany and Czechia faced each other six times
during the preparation period for the U-15 Baseball European Championship –
Czechia took advantage of heavy control problems by the German pitching to
score eight runs in the first en route to a 12-2 win in six innings in the
afternoon game in Trnava on Wednesday. It was their second win in as many
games, while Germany dropped to 0-2. Lukas Chromy led the way for Czechia with
three hits, three runs and two RBI. He also hit a solo home run in the sixth to
cap the scoring. Michael Coleman and Tomas Prihoda kept Germany to two runs on
seven hits and two walks, while Germany’s pitching conceded nine walks in six
innings.
France – Netherlands 9-13 (Box score)
In an
exciting back and forth battle the Netherlands prevailed 13-9 over France in
the evening game on Wednesday in Trnava. After both teams exchanged single runs
in the first two innings, the Netherlands took a 4-1 lead in the third and added
four more runs in the fourth. France cut the deficit to 3-4 and 5-8. The Dutch
team scored five more runs in the sixth and seventh before France made a last
effort for a comeback with four runs in the bottom of the seventh. But in the
end it was too little too late. Guus Toemen and Djevan Jansen scored three runs
apiece for the Netherlands. Levi De Graaf had four RBI. Baptiste Volpato went
4-for-4 with a home run, three runs and a RBI for France.
Outlook
On Thursday the preliminary round ends. In Group A Italy and Czechia meet up in the afternoon at 13:30 to battle for first place and home field advantage for the semi-finals. In the morning Germany and Hungary square off in a matchup of winless teams at 10:00. In the evening at 17:00 the Netherlands and Slovakia conclude the first round. When the Dutch team wins, the Netherlands and France advance to the semi-finals from Group B, when Slovakia prevails the tie-breaker regulations will come in effect.
All games of the U-15 Baseball European Championship in Trnava will be streamed live through the WBSC Europe YouTube Channel. Live play by play will be available for all games at www.wbsceurope.org.
Photo by Branislav Hantak
