Home British baseball Great Britain wins European Championship opener

Great Britain wins European Championship opener

by Matt Smith

GbHlSqGreat Britain started off their European Championship campaign in style today with a 10-1 win over Croatia in the TVC Stadium, Stuttgart. 

Spain’s recent success in the FIFA World Cup showed that a team can recover from a disappointing opening game, but every team hopes to get that first win under their belt as soon as possible and to set a positive tone for the rest of the tournament.

That’s exactly what Team GB did today, not only by winning their first game but by putting up six runs in the top of the first inning. 

Admittedly they were helped by a nervous start from their opponents, with Croatia committing two errors in the field, catcher Benjamin Goldstrom allowing a passed ball and starting pitcher Michael Lennox throwing two wild pitches all in the first frame.  However, Great Britain will rightfully argue that it was their patience at the plate and positive approach that put the pressure on their opponents and allowed them to capitalize on the subsequent mistakes.

There can be no better start to a pitcher’s day than seeing his teammates racking up a six-run cushion before he even takes the mound.  Alex Smith had that good fortune today and he wasn’t going to let that run support go to waste.  Smith pitched seven strong innings, allowing only three hits and one run while striking out four and giving up one walk.  Stephen Spragg and Jeff Mottl picked up from where Smith left off, each pitching a scoreless inning and facing the minimum three batters, in Spragg’s case with a double-play taking care of a walked batter in the eighth.

Michael Johnson, a Great Britain Cadet graduate and former Burgess Hill and Bracknell baseball club member, drove in four runs, while Evan Romanchuk went 3-for-5 with a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning.  Former Manchester Baseball Club player Rich Klijn also went 3-for-5 and the Bracknell Blazers’ Michael Trask hit a single to centre field in the eighth inning to get that all-important first tournament hit out of the way.

It all amounted to a great start by Pat Doyle’s men, but there’s still a lot of hard work to be done if Great Britain are to qualify for the second round.  That work continues tomorrow with a game against Sweden, who lost 12-9 against Greece in Heidenheim today.

Further details

Box score

Great Britain Baseball website report

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3 comments

Owen July 23, 2010 - 8:37 pm

Where does this GB pitcher stack up against the rest we have. I assume Croatia is one of the weaker teams.

Strong pitcher shows GB thinks we have to stay in top level so best pitching against the weaker teams and weaker pitcher shows GB think they have a chance of doing well.

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Marc July 24, 2010 - 1:06 am

Have you found a way to watch (either live or on-demand) the games? The stadeo.tv website just redirected me to Eurosport and I could find no way to watch the games there.

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Matt Smith July 24, 2010 - 11:31 am

Alex Smith would certainly be considered one of our best pitchers. He’s a veteran since the 2001 Euros, had a 2.51 ERA in 2007 and pitched commendably against tough opposition in last year’s World Cup. I think you’re right in suggesting that we would put our best pitchers out against the ‘lesser’ teams to maximize our chances of getting through.

Marc – It looks like there will be little coverage of these games I’m afraid. I’m not sure quite what Stadeo.TV are actually offering, while Eurosport are only picking up the action from late on in the Second Round.

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