Austria – Netherlands 2-12 (Box score)
The Netherlands celebrated a 12-2 win over Austria in the morning game on Wednesday.
After a pair of scoreless frames to open the game, the Dutch team broke the tie with a run in the third. Five runs in the fourth and three each in the fifth and sixth innings lifted them to the commanding win.
Austria avoided the shutout with two runs in the sixth. Iceson Ardjosoediro led the way with a home run, four runs scored and three RBI. Krijn Van der Wens also went deep. Marc Andre Moczkowski hit a two-run home run for Austria.
Tim Sodekamp struck out seven in four scoreless two-hit innings for the win. Oskar-Tim Kampichler took the loss.
Ukraine – Czechia 0-21 (Box score)
Czechia scored in each of the four innings played for a 21-0 shutout over Ukraine in the early afternoon game on Wednesday in Paderborn.
They scored six runs in the first, nine in the second and five in the fourth to blow the score wide open. Marek Svehla, Adriana Salabova and Krystof Kotoucek hit home runs for Czechia. Kotoucek collected six RBI in the game, Svehla had five.
Meanwhile on the mound Robin Karpisek earned the win. Anton Havrilenko got charged with the loss.
Lithuania – Italy 0-21 (Box score)
Italy needed just three innings to down Lithuania 21-0.
After a four-run first and a scoreless second, the floodgates opened in the third with 17 Italian runs. 12 different players scored for Italy in the game. Gianmaria Fontana hit a home run and drove in four runs. Gualtiero Magnani and Mattia Manzotti combined for eight strikeouts in three innings for Italy.
Erikas Mordas had the lone hit for Lithuania. Aistis Viduolis took the loss.
France – Germany 2-5 (Box score)
In the closest game of the tournament so far, defending champion and host Germany prevailed 5-2 over France to earn their second win in the U-12 Baseball European Championship 2024.
Germany had a strong start and took a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first with RBI singles by Matthes Schwarcke and Raphael Acbas. France answered with a run by Quentin Huet on an error in the bottom half of the frame to cut the deficit in half.
Two innings later Germany extended their lead to 5-1 with a pair of home runs by Jonathan Strübing and Matthes Schwarcke. After the pitchers exchanged zeroes on the board, France threatened to come back in the bottom half of the last inning. Remi Monnier scored their second run on another error by the German defense.
After a walk the tying run stepped to the plate with two outs, but a strikeout ended the rally and the game in favor of the hosts.
Outlook
The preliminary round at the U-12 Baseball European Championship ends on Thursday in Paderborn with the meetings of the undefeated teams, hoping to clinch home field advantage ahead of the semi-finals. The Netherlands take on European Baseball rival Italy at 13:00, while Germany hosts Czechia at 18:00. The winners will take first place in their respective groups. Meanwhile at 10:30 Austria faces Lithuania and at 15:30 France squares off against Ukraine.
All games can be watched through www.baseballeurope.tv. Live play by play is available at www.wbsceurope.org.
Photo by Anika Diestelkamp
