2021 European Championship: Placement Matches

Today, the first of the placement matches for the fifth to eighth places took place. Belgium took on Great Britain and the Czech Republic faced Croatia.

Great Britain  12  –  11  Belgium
Belgium fought hard but just fell short against a team with 46% of foreign born players. 
Thanks to the many errors, this game didn’t deserve any bouquets but it was a nail biter for sure. 
Belgium took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on a throwing error with a pickoff throw that alllowed Axel Poesmans to score the opening run and on a fielding error by the British second baseman. An inning and a half later, Great Britain tied the game and in the following innings the team appeared to walk away as it scored six runs in the seventh and three in the eighth. But Belgium showed its flexibility in the bottom of the eighth inning. After Great Britain had scored thrice in the top of the eighth, Belgium scored eight runs thanks to five bases loaded walks, a two RBI singles and a wild pitch. But eventually this eight run outburst didn’t prove to be enough as the Brits scored the game winning run in the ninth and the Belgian side was retired by Christopher Messer, who earned the win.
Yves Poesmans took the loss as he gave up the game winning run. 
Zachary Stroman was the best hitter for Great Britain as he went 3 for 3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. 


Croatia  2  –  17  Czech Republic
After taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the gas was out of the Croatian tank. Singles by Philip Smith and Ronald Anthony Krsolovic, drove in the two Croatian runs. In the following innings, Croatia was kept in check by Ondrej Satoria and Filip Capka. The Czech Republic cut Croatia’s lead in half in the second inning and took the lead in the third as it scored thrice. From that moment on, the Czechs didn’t look back and finished the game in six innings thanks to an offensive outburst in the fifth, in which they scored eight runs. 
The Czechs did not only outscore the Croatians, they also outhit them 15-6. 
Ondrej Satoria earned the win. In seven innings, he gave up two runs on four hits and a walk and fanned eleven. Borna Strelec took the loss. In 2.1 innings, he allowed four runs on four hits and struck out four.
Both Vojtech Mensik and Matej Mensik went 2 for 2 and thus earned the honors of being the best Czech batter. Vojtech hit a triple and a home run, drove in one and scored four runs. Matej hit a double, drove in one and scored once.