Belgium – Switzerland 2-7 (Box score)
In a meeting of teams, which both lost on the first day of the competition, Switzerland prevailed 7-2 over Belgium on Monday morning in Prague.
For the Swiss team, which is competing in the A-Pool of the Baseball European Championship for the first time, it was their first win in history.
Switzerland put three runs on the board each in the first and third. Noah Erik Williamson got the Swiss off to a perfect start with a three-run home run in the top half of the first. Dennis De Quindt answered with a RBI double for Belgium. But a RBI single by Kyle Ethan Williamson and a two-run single by Leonel de Jesus Sosa Marte extended the Swiss lead to 6-1.
A RBI fielder’s choice by Kyle Williamson made it 7-1 in the ninth before Axel Poesmans scored a second Belgium run on a wild pitch.
Ukraine – Netherlands 3-16 (Box score)
Defending champion Netherlands survived an early scare with an 0-2 deficit through four innings to beat Ukraine 16-3 in the first game of the day in Brno on Monday.
Eight Runs in the top of the fifth made sure that there was no upset in a meeting between the tournament favorite and an underdog in the competition.
For the Dutch it was their second win in as many days, for Ukraine the second loss.
Roger Bernadina, Ray-Patrick Didder, Juremi Profar and Ademar Rifaela each went deep for the Netherlands. Bernadina, Didder and Rifaela each collected four RBI.
Profar had four hits. Kostiantyn Chukhas, Illia Velykyi and Dmytro Limarenko scored the three runs for Ukraine.
Great Britain – Hungary 22-3 (Box score)
Great Britain improved to 2-0 in Group B of the first round at the Baseball European Championship with a commanding 22-3 performance over Hungary in the Monday morning game in Trebic.
Twelve runs in the second and nine in the third blew the score wide open. Twelve different players crossed the plate for runs for GB. Nick Ward rounded the bases for an inside the park home run. He and Nateshon Thomas each drove in three runs. Harry Ford, Ben Leid and Michael Flaherty each scored three runs.
Adam Domsicz, Graeham Luttor and Mate Belle scored the runs for Hungary.
Jacob Esch inherited the win in relief of Matteo Sollecito. Adam Piros got charged with the loss.
Austria – Spain 1-13 (Box score)
Spain celebrated their second win with a 13-1 victory over Austria in the morning game on Monday in Ostrava.
After Austria took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a RBI single by Mo Hackl, Andres Angulo got Spain ahead with a two-run triple in the fourth. He then extended the lead to three runs with a two-run home run in the sixth.
In the seventh and eighth Spain combined for nine runs to blow things open. Edison Valerio also hit a home run. He went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and four RBI. Omar Hernandez scored three times. Jorge Balboa struck out ten batters in seven innings for the win.
Julian Faulhaber took the loss.
Outlook
In the evening games on day two at the Baseball European Championship at 17:30 Croatia is taking on France in Brno, Sweden is facing Italy in Trebic and Czechia is hosting Greece in Ostrava. At 20:00 in Prague Germany and Israel meet in a matchup of day-one winners.
All games can be followed by live streaming on www.baseballeurope.tv and live play by play through www.wbsceurope.org.
Photo by Jan Benes
