U-18 European Championship 2018: Kingdom of the Netherlands brings home title
The Dutch U-18 squad managed to win the 2018 European title by beating Spain 6-3. Luuk ter Beek pitched a gem and kept the Spanish scoreless in eight innings.
It wasn’t really a close game but the Dutch did not manage to walk away from their opponent. In the first four innings, the Dutch jumped to a 4-0 lead but did not extend their score in the following innings until the bottom of the eighth.
After Jeandro Tromp led off the first inning with a walk, he advanced to third base on a throwing error with a pickoff attempt. With two outs and runners on the corners, Denzel Bryson singled to center field to drive in Tromp from third.
Two innings later, Tromp also scored the second run for the Dutch. Again he batted leadoff but this time he got on base thanks to a single. He advanced to second on a wild pitch. When Darryl Collins hit into a force out at second base, Tromp advanced to third from where he scored on a sac fly by Ruendrick Piternella.
After the Kingdom of the Netherlands scored twice in the fourth inning, the team did not come close to home plate until the bottom of the eighth. Denzel Bryson led off the inning with a double to left-center field and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt laid down by Shuruengelo Mingeli. Leandro Anasagasti’s single drove in Bryson to make it 5-0. After Nolan Beugeling drew a walk, Jeandro Tromp drove in Leandro Anasagasti from second base with a single to left field.
Luuk ter Beek pitched eight solid innings and faced two batters in the ninth. After he gave up two consecutive singles, manager Erik de Bruin pulled him and replaced him with Arij Fransen. But Fransen could not keep Spain from scoring as he gave up a bases-clearing double to Juan Jose Gonzalez. When Edgar Rodriguez singled down the left field line, things started to become threatening especially when Juan Jose Gonzalez scored another run for Spain when Pol Rodriguez hit into a double play. But Fransen eventually straightened the ship as he struck out Octavio Aulet for the final out of the game.
In eight innings and two batters faced, Luuk ter Beek was tabbed for two runs on six hits and a walk as he struck out two for the win. Arij Fransen gave up one run on two hits and struck out one in one inning of work.
Leandro Anasagasti was the best Dutch hitter going 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored.