Hungary scores early, often to beat Slovakia in Final of European Baseball Championship Qualifier in Belgrade

Hungary scores early, often to beat Slovakia in Final of European Baseball Championship Qualifier in Belgrade
17/07/2022
Hungary has won the European Baseball Championship Qualifier in Belgrade, Serbia. On Sunday they beat Slovakia 8-1 in the final to claim the tournament win. With the victory they qualified for next year’s playoff tournament, where they will meet France and Switzerland, which had won their European Baseball Championship Qualifiers in Blagoevgrad and Utena on Saturday. The top two teams of the playoff tournament will qualify for the European Baseball Championship 2023, which will be held in the Czech Republic.

Slovakia and Hungary reached the final of the Qualifier in Belgrade after prevailing as one and two in a three-way tie together with Norway after a 3-1 preliminary round. Serbia (1-3) and Poland (0-4) finished fourth and fifth in the tournament in the final standings.

Hungary started strong into the final, scoring five runs in the top of the first frame for an early advantage. A two-run single by Adam Piros in combination with an error was the big blow during the rally. Hungary continued to score, while keeping Slovakia at bay in the game, winning eventually 8-1. Balint Piros collected four hits and three runs in the game. Sean Tamas Fekete struck out 14 batters in eight innings to earn the win. Jakub Izold recovered from the horrendous start and pitched a complete game, but obviously was charged with the loss. Martin Brunegraf scored the lone run for Slovakia.

All results and statistics from the European Baseball Championship Qualifier in Belgrade can be found at www.wbsceurope.org.

Photo by Hungarian Baseball and Softball Federation