In a matchup between two teams that lost in mercy-rule fashion the day before, Belgium stayed at the right side of the score. Ukraine opened the score in the first inning but then Belgium took the lead and slowly walked away.
Belgium 6 – 3 Ukraine
After Ukraine took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with two outs, thanks to a double by Ihor Lukin, a single by Dmytro Krupchenko and a a single by Andrii Boiko, Belgium took the lead in the top of the second inning. A leadoff double by Matthew Joossen followed by a groundout and a passed ball made Belgium tie the game. After Xander Verspreet drew a walk and Stefan Schoonheydt doubled through the left side, Belgium had runners in scoring position. Verspeet then scored on Quentin Devreese’s double down the left field line. Stefan Schoonheydt eventually scored on Kantaro Reyelandt’s 2-3 groundout to give Belgium a 3-1 lead.
In the bottom of the third, with one out, Zeb Cappaert struggled to find the strike zone. After loading the bases, his defense showed once again that a double play is a pitcher’s best friend. In the top of the fourth, Belgium extended its lead by a run when Quentin Devreese scored on a balk.
In the fifth inning, Benjamin Goffaux singled to center field, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher. A sac fly by Lucas Rizzi, drove Goffaux in for the fifth Belgian run.
Thanks to a force out at second and a stolen home plate in the bottom of the fifth, Ukraine scored twice and got back into the game. But in the top of the seventh, a single by Lucas Rizzi drove in an insurance run for Belgium. Gregg Mareels, who replaced Zeb Cappaert in the sixth, gave up one single in the bottom of the seventh but retired the next three batters for the save. Zeb Cappaert earned the win. In five innings he gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks and struck out one. Despite pitching a complete game, Andrii
Kostashchuk took the loss. He gave up six runs (five earned) on nine hits and two walks and struck out six.
Average-wise, Stefan Schoonheydt was the best hitter for Belgium as he went 1 for 1 with a double and an RBI.
This blog post is brought to you by 
Dutch Baseball Hangout 