Israel – Belgium 11-8 (Box score)
Israel overcame an early 0-2 deficit and held off Belgium in the end for an 11-8 victory in the first game on Tuesday in Prague.
Israel scored nine runs in the first three innings. Trailing 3-11 entering the last two frames, Belgium’s bats woke up and made things interesting with five runs. Benjamin Rosengard went 2-for-4 with a home run, three runs scored and two RBI for Israel. Jonathan Zeevi scored three times. Drew Janssen homered for Belgium as part of a two-run, three-RBI performance.
Axel Poesmans drove in two. Aviv Bobrov picked up the win, while Edouard Vanheer got charged with the loss.
France – Ukraine 10-0 (Box score)
France improved to 2-1 in the competition with a 10-0 shutout over Ukraine in the first game in Brno on Tuesday.
After taking a lead in the first, five runs in the third blew the game open. Nathan Laot, Robyn Clara and Thibault Mercadier combined to concede just five hits and a walk in seven scoreless innings, striking out ten. Fabian Kovacs had three hits and three RBI for France. Mael Zan collected two RBI.
Roman Boiko had two of the five Ukrainian hits. Ihor Lukin got charged with the loss.
Hungary – Sweden 7-17 (Box score)
After their emotional upset win over Italy on Monday evening, Sweden came back the next morning to defeat Hungary 17-7 improving to 2-1 in the tournament in the first game in Trebic on Tuesday.
Hungary dropped to 0-3. Sweden scored in six of the eight innings played. Leonard Bäckström went deep for Sweden. Oskar Jerfsten went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. Joel Johnson, Philip Gajzler and Thomas Paulich each scored three times. Graeham Luttor homered for Hungary and drove in three. Balint Piros and Sean Fekete had two RBI apiece.
Oskar Syren pitched for the third straight day and earned the win with ten strikeouts in six solid innings. Robert Ogg got charged with the loss.
Greece – Austria 11-6 (Box score)
In a wild back and forth battle Greece prevailed 11-6 over Austria to win a matchup of previously winless teams in Ostrava in the first game on Tuesday.
After Greece took a quick 3-0 lead in the first, Austria rallied for five runs and a 5-3 lead midway through the fifth. Greece then scored single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh to regain the lead. Five runs in the eighth put the game in the books.
Kasey Bond Caras, Ari Sechopoulos and Panagiotis Dudunakis hit home runs for Greece and combined for seven RBI.
Sammy Hackl and Felix Zimmerle went deep for Austria.
Peter Gus Maestrales picked up the win in relief. Ryan Rupp took the loss.
Outlook
In the evening the first round at the Baseball European Championship ends with four more games.
In Ostrava Czechia (2-0) and Spain (2-0) will meet to determine the winner in Group A, as both teams are already qualified for the quarterfinals on Thursday. In the other groups potential three-way ties are possible.
In Group B Italy (1-1) is facing Great Britain (2-0) in Trebic in a must-win situation for the Squadra Azzurri.
In Group C in Brno 1-1 Croatia meets with the Netherlands (2-0).
In Group D Germany (2-0) squares off against Switzerland (1-1) in Prague.
All games can be followed by live streaming on www.baseballeurope.tv and live play by play through www.wbsceurope.org.
Cover photo by Jan Benes
