Israel - Sweden (5th-8th) 6-4 (Boxscore | Streaming)
Israel won 6-4 against Sweden in a balanced and battled morning game in Blansko. Israel took and maintained the lead for the whole game: scored three runs in the first inning, two in the fifth, and an insurance run in the eighth inning. Sweden got on the first in the fourth inning (to make it 3-1), and added three more runs in the fifth, 5-4, getting closer to Israel. Sweden had 12 hits, one more than the Israeli counterpart.
FISHMAN got the win for Israel while the Swedish starting pitcher Per SJÖRS got charged with the loss.
France - Czechia (5th-8th) 1-11 (Boxscore | Streaming)
In Brno, Czechia topped France in seven innings, 11-1, in front of their home crowd to qualify for the fifth-spot game against Israel.
Czechia scored throughout the whole game (11 runs in total: 2 runs in the second, 3 in the third, fourth, and sixth innings). France scored just one run in the seventh inning, too little to avoid an early 10-run difference early end.
Three homeruns for Czechia: DUBOVý hit off the field in the second inning to get on the board, and ČERVENKA went deep twice (5 RBI in the day).
With three errors by France, only seven of the Czech runs were earned by the French pitchers.
Italy - Switzerland 12-3 (Boxscore | Streaming)
Italy topped Switzerland in Třebíč on Friday morning. The game remained balanced until the fourth inning (4-2). A big inning of six runs by the Italians decided the game in the fifth inning (10-2). Italy scored two more insurance runs in the sixth and in the ninth innings. The Swiss scored once more (2 hits, 2 hit-by-pitch). Federico CELLI had a day: 3/4 with 1HR, 3 RBIs, and 2 BB. The Italy pitchers obtained 18 strikeouts and only allowed 2 walks.
Belgium - Croatia 5-7 (Boxscore | Streaming)
Belgium and Croatia played a balanced game in Třebíč.
SMITH doubled to take HERRERA TORREZ home and score the first run for Croatia in the first inning. Belgium tied the game in the second inning.
Croatia got on the board again in the third inning, scoring twice and making it 3-1. Belgium scored their second run in the fifth inning on an error, 3-2. A 3-run homerun by SMITH made it 6-2 for Croatia. SMITH brought another run home in the seventh inning to make it 7-2. At their last chance, Belgium scored three runs, getting closer to Croatia but not enough.
Ukraine - Austria 9-0 (Boxscore | Streaming)
In a one-sided game, Ukraine scored in the third, fourth, seventh, and eighth innings. Pitchers BOIKO and KHODAKOVSKYI allowed 4 hits and 0 runs, while the Ukrainian had 15 hits. By losing the game, Austria is relegated and will have to qualify to play EuroBaseball in 2025.
Hungary - Greece 14-19 (Boxscore | Streaming)
34 hits, 33 runs, and 6 runs in total for a 3:45 long game. Greece ended up winning the game against Hungary in Brno (Hroši), relegating Hungary to qualify again to take part in the Baseball European Championship 2025.
Outlook
Italy will now play Croatia for the final 9th spot on Saturday at 18:30 in Blansko. Switzerland will play Belgium for 11th place at 12:00 p.m. also in Blansko.
Ukraine will face Greece for 13th place, which secures its participation in Eurobaseball 2025 in Israel. The game will be played on Saturday from 14:30 in Brno at Hroši.
Austria will play Hungary, and it is already certain that both teams will play a qualifier for promotion. The match is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. in Brno at Hroší.
All games can be followed by live streaming on www.baseballeurope.tv and live play by play through www.wbsceurope.org.
Cover photo by Petra Voet
