The very first day of the Baseball U23 European Championship brought a big surprise in Group A. Unfortunately, from a domestic perspective, it wasn’t the fact that the Austrians defeated the top favorite Netherlands, but that Great Britain defeated the also highly regarded Czechs. Team Austria also started ambitiously against Holland at Ducksfield. Christoph Hoscher immediately made solid contact and made it to second base. The hosts could not convert the strong start into points. The two Diving Ducks Eoghan McGarry and Julian Faulhaber fired the baseball directly into the gloves of the Dutch defense. After the two fly-outs, Georg Stemmer was taken out with three strikes. The orange defense held.
Dutch take the lead
Offensively, the favorite developed a lot of pressure. A strong play by Dan Kawanishi provided the first out. After two walks and a hit, the Dutchman had occupied all bases. The first points were in the air. In the next move, Max Kops crossed home plate to make it 1-0, while the Austrians managed the second out. Bitter: Catcher Elias Kreska was then unable to control a flat throw from pitcher McGarry. Jair van Borkulo used the mistake for the second run. Austria then managed the third out with a fly-out – 2-0 to the Dutch after the first inning.
Schiller scored the first point
The Dutch wobbled in the second inning. Alex Schiller was sent to first base with a walk, then stole second. Another walk by Kreska and a hit by Kawanishi ensured all three bases were filled. Justin Fürböck then hit a sacrifice fly, went out himself, but allowed Schiller to “run home”. The first point for Austria was there. After that, the Dutch pulled their heads out of the noose and didn’t allow any more points.
Dutch settle down
Austria’s defense then acted sovereign. Julian Faulhaber secured the first two outs at first base. Then Kawanishi caught the Dutchman’s ball out of the air, ending the second half. In the third inning, the Dutchmen did their job on the defensive with three quick outs (McGarry, Faulhaber and Stemmer) and set about making a preliminary decision with the offense. The Dutch had runners on all three bases, but the Austrians contained the damage with two runs from Marnix Ruben and van Borkulo – 4-1 after three innings.
Photo: WBSC
In the fourth round, the red-white-red batsmen had no hit. Lennard Halper, who replaced McGarry as pitcher at the end of the third inning, struggled harder afterwards. Two outs were quickly achieved, but the third was (too long) in coming. Kops extended the Dutch lead to 5:1. Even in the fifth inning, the Austrians didn’t come within the reach of points. A walk to first base by Felix Astner was the highest of emotions. Austria acted similarly sovereign. Lukas Inmann, who took over as pitcher, caused a strike-out. The other two outs came from Faulhaber at first base.
The final decision
The sixth inning started with a faux pas by the Dutchman that pushed Faulhaber to first base. That remained a side note because three strikeouts followed. The Austrians pitched again: Nicholas Schadler couldn’t keep the Dutchmen under control. The first four batsmen all made it on base. Edvin Irausquin, Brandon Rincones and Raydley Legito then scored before Alexander Kienberger took over at the throwing mound and ended the inning with a strike-out and a fly-out. There was no furious comeback in the seventh inning. The Dutch put the lid on it with quick outs. The gold favorites start the tournament with an 8-1 lead, while Austria will battle Great Britain on Wednesday for the last chance to advance to the semi-finals.
Results
Group A: Great Britain 8-3 Czech Republic, Netherlands 8-1 Austria.
Group B: France 0-7 Italy, Germany 5-1 Belgium.
The 2nd game day
Wednesday, 10 a.m.: Germany v France (Ducksfield Wr. Neustadt).
Wednesday, 2:30 p.m.: Netherlands – Czech Republic (Ducksfield Wr. Neustadt).
Wednesday, 4 p.m.: Belgium v Italy (Batsfield Schwechat)
Wednesday, 7.30 p.m.: Austria – Great Britain (Ducksfield Wr. Neustadt).
2023-08-08 20:59:41
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