In other news, Martin Schneider snuffed out Spain’s red-hot bats in the Regensburg Qualifier 2 final in Germany, leading the Czech Republic to a 3-1 win that secured their place in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
After pitching only a handful of innings this year for Draci Brno in the Czech Baseball Extraleague, the country’s top baseball league, Schneider, who has long been the Czech team’s best pitcher and shortstop, was expected to pitch only as a reliever in the tournament.
Schneider did not back down against the powerful Spain line-up, which scored 21 runs against the Czech Republic last Saturday and nine against Great Britain on Tuesday.
“When Pavel asked me, I said, ‘Hey, you know me. I’m going to die tomorrow. So, it’s up to you. It’s your decision.'”Schneider said. “I was ready for it. I was ready for it. And I did the best I could.”
It’s a disappointing loss for Spain, who were widely regarded as the favorites for the knockout tournament; But the team never seemed to live up to its billing. Spain narrowly defeated South Africa, 5-4, in the opener, before defeating the Czechs on Saturday and losing to Great Britain on Tuesday.
Despite all the success of the Czech team, Chadim knows that he cannot always win when facing a loaded team like Spain.
“I have a funny joke for that question”Chadim said. “I answered before tonight that we can beat them in one of the five games. And that was the reason we invited them to a [serie] exhibition before the World Baseball Classic [Clasificatorios] there were three defeats. We started with a loss on Saturday and I thought this fifth game would be our game.”
Panama’s Qualifying for the 2023 World Baseball Classic will begin next week.
Results of the 2023 World Classic Qualifying
Group A
Qualifier 1
Preliminary
South Africa 4-5 Spain
Great Britain 14-4 France
semifinals
Czech Republic 7-21 Spain
Germany 1-8 Great Britain
Final
Spain 9-10 Great Britain
Qualifier 2
Preliminary
France 1-7 Czech Republic
South Africa 5-11 Germany
Semifinal
Czech Republic 8-4 Germany
Final
Spain 1-3 Czech Republic
