Austria wins Baseball European Championship Qualifier in Ashbourne, Ireland

It was a dominant effort by Austria, as they scored five runs in the first inning en route to a 14-3 victory over host Ireland in the final on Sunday. Austria scored runs in six of the eight innings played. Nine different players crossed the plate for runs for Austria. Philipp Eckel scored three times. Andreas Lastinger had three RBI. Julian Faulhaber hit a home run. Mo Hackl pitched six solid innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks for the win.

Ryan Wiebe, Trajan Finarelli and Cillian Murphy scored the three runs for Ireland. Brendan Keneally got charged with the loss.

Four teams overall participated in the Baseball European Championship Qualifier in Ashbourne this week. Ireland and Austria finished 2-1 after the opening round in which Ireland had won the matchup over Austria 2-0. But in the end both teams met again in the final with the better result for Austria. Austria got relegated from the Baseball European Championship 2023 and now keeps its spot in the A-Pool.

Norway and Bulgaria rounded up the final standings at the Baseball European Championship Qualifier.

Complete results and statistics can be found at www.wbsceurope.org. All games were streamed live through www.baseballeurope.tv.

Photo by Eric Bellamy @sportssportssports.net