2019 European Championship: Day 5
On the last day of the rounds-robin, the following games were scheduled:
Belgium @ Italy, Spain @ Austria, Great Britain @ Sweden, the Netherlands @ Israel, Croatia @ France, Czech Republic @ Germany and the last part of the suspended game between the Netherlands and Great Britain.
Belgium 4 – 11 Italy 
Belgium wasn’t a match for Italy today. For six innings the team was held scoreless for six innings. Only in the seventh, Belgium got on the board when Sam Boermans hit a solo home run. By then the Italians had a 7-0 lead already. After Belgium got closer in the eighth as they scored thrice, Italy stepped on it one more time in the bottom of that frame. Aldo Koutosoyanopulos singled home Erick Epifano. Chris Colabello hit a three-run home run to reach the final score.
Angelo Palumbo pitched five innings for the win. He allowed two hits and a walk and struck out six.
Best hitter for Italy was Mattia Reginato as he went 2 for 3 with two runs scored.
Spain 19 – 1 Austria 
After clinching their first win vs Croatia yesterday, Austria did not stand a chance against Spain. The Spaniards needed six innings to end the game. In all six innings, Spain scored at least one run. In the final two innings, Spain scored five runs each.
All Austria could do was scoring a run in the fifth on a solo home run by Moritz Scheicher. Spain clearly saved some arms as they used four pitchers of which Leslie Nacar earned the win after pitching the fourth inning as he walked one and struck out one.
The best hitter for Spain was Oscar Angulo. He went 3 for 3 with a double, two RBI and four runs scored.
Great Britain 13 – 7 Sweden 
Normally seven runs are enough for a win. But not this time as the Swedish pitching allowed thirteen runs. Sweden got very close as the score was 8-7 for Great Britain at one point in the game. But the five runs the British scored in the last two innings were too much to over come.
Nateshon Thomas was the best hitter for Great Britain. He went 3 for 3 with three runs batted in and two runs scored. Michael Roth pitched 3.2 innings in relief for the win. He allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk.
Tomorrow, Sweden will face Croatia in a relegation game. Great Britain will face Austria in a battle for ninth place.
Kingdom of the Netherlands – Israel 
Battle for first place in group A.
Here is the link to the game report
Croatia 0 – 23 France 
So far, despite losing every game, Croatia played a good tournament. But today the team was humiliated by France in just five innings in which the Croatians committed four errors that led to three unearned runs.
Croatia that collected three runs never came close to the win but a fourteen(!)-run inning was the death blow. In that inning, France got a double, a triple and eleven singles.
Jonathan Duforet went 3 for 3 and Bastien Dagneau drove in six runs.
Yann Vaugelade pitched one perfect inning in relief for the win.
With this win, France finished in third place in group B. They will face Israel in the quarter finals.
Kingdom of the Netherlands – Great Britain
Remainder of the game that was suspended due to darkness on Saturday.
Here is the link to the game report
Czech Republic 10 – 6 Germany 
After Germany had a 2-0 lead after three innings, the Czech Republic bounced back in a big way.
Germany took the lead in the second inning when Philipp Schulz singled home Marco Cardoso. In the next inning, Pascal Amon hit into a 3-6 force out at second base that allowed Donald Lutz to score. But the Czechs fought back. In the fourth inning, the Czech Republic turned the tables as a 6-1 groundout and a double drove in three runs. After a one-run fifth inning, the Czechs had a big inning in the sixth. With runners in scoring position, Adam Hajtmar singled in two runs. A few moments later, Matej Hejma hit a three-run home run to left center field.
But the Germans did not intend to go down without a fight. Three consecutive singles, a passed ball and another single drove in three runs for the Germans in the sixth inning.
Both teams would score one more run, the Czech Republic in the seventh on a passed ball, Germany in the ninth on a home run.
Daniel Padsyak pitched 3.1 innings in relief for the win. He gave up one run on three hits and a walk and struck out three.
Best hitter for the Czech Republic was Petr Zyma, who went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI.