Most, Czech Republic: 17 July 2015 – The GB Junior (Under-19) Men’s Fastpitch Team lost to Croatia yesterday at the European Junior Championships by a score of 11-4 in five innings. Trailing 7-0, GB fought back into the game, but a final burst of runs from Croatia was too much to overcome.
However, this felt like the closest game of the tournament for the GB Junior Men and the team came off the pitch with their heads held high. Had one or two more hits found grass rather than a Croatian glove (the Croatian outfielders were amazingly quick) it could have been a different story. GB had baserunners, were aggressive on the bases and had several chances to post a big score, but in the end only four runs were scored.
GB also fielded well, recording two double plays and making almost all of the routine outs and committing only two errors to three for Croatia.
Damon Brown pitched all five innings for GB, allowing only five hits but giving up eight walks and hitting two Croatian batters. A highlight of the early innings was a double play by Damon, who caught a line drive, spun and picked off a runner who had taken just a step off first base.
But once again, it was the sheer number of baserunners Croatia was allowed that gave them the opportunity to pile up runs and take the game away from GB.
The British could manage only three hits, all off Croatian starter Matija Balent, who pitched the first four innings, and GB only received two walks and had one batter hit-by-pitch.
Big innings
All of the GB hits and both their walks came in the bottom of the third inning, when GB scored three of their four runs to claw a 7-0 deficit back to 7-3.
With one out, George Young and Damon Brown reached on infield singles, and Dylan Stewart singled to left to score George. Amit Aswani then walked to load the bases and Trent Nash also walked, driving in pinch-hitter Alex Reynolds. A sacrifice fly to left field off the bat of Josh Saunders brought in Dylan Stewart for the third run.
But GB’s hopes of narrowing the lead still further were immediately dashed in the top of the fourth inning when Croatia, who had already scored three runs in the second inning and four in the third, scored three more to take the game into mercy rule territory at 10-3. A walk, a stolen base, a single, an error and three wild pitches did the damage.
Final runs
In the fifth inning, the teams traded runs. Croatia scored in the top of the inning with two outs on a walk, two wild pitches and an illegal pitch. That made the score 11-3.
In the bottom of the inning, with GB needing two runs to stave off a mercy rule defeat in five innings, they managed only one against Croatian relief pitcher Dario Juric. Dylan Stewart reached second when the Croatian right fielder dropped his fly ball, then stole third and scored on a wild pitch. But Juric struck out Trent Nash and Josh Saunders to end the game.
Looking ahead
GB has no game today, but will play Poland at 3.00 pm on Saturday (Czech time) to determine fifth and sixth place. GB lost to Poland 21-9 in their opening game of the tournament, but it was a game the British felt they might have won, and after improving over a tough week, GB will hope to come away with a victory.
To their credit, GB finished third in team batting over the course of pool play, behind only the Czech Republic and Denmark, and they were fourth in team fielding.
Amit Aswani was the fourth leading batter during pool play with an average of .444, while Damon Brown was seventh (.417), Jack Nielan 11th (.375) and Josh Saunders 16th (.333).
But GB was last by a considerable margin in team pitching, with an earned run average almost twice that of fifth-place Poland. Over the course of pool play, GB pitchers walked 50 batters (an average of 10 a game); Czech pitchers, to take the most extreme contrast, walked two in five games.
If we can develop more consistent pitching, there is no reason why the GB Under-19 Men can’t begin to climb the European table.
Polish pitchers have given up almost as many walks as GB – 46 in total – and that’s another reason for GB to think they might pull off a win on Saturday.
Today, Croatia and Israel will play the 3 v 4 Page Playoff game, with the loser settling for fourth place. The winner will play the loser of this evening’s 1 v 2 game between the Czech Republic and Denmark at noon tomorrow, with the final following the GB-Poland game at 6.00 pm.
Pool standings
Final pool play standings were:
Denmark (4-1)
Czech Republic (4-1)
Croatia (3-2)
Israel (3-2)
Poland (1-4)
Great Britain (0-5)
The main surprise of the week was Thursday’s 3-2 win by Israel over Denmark, who had themselves pulled off a one-run win over the Czech Republic earlier in the week. The result will delight an improved Israeli team but had no effect on the Page Playoff configuration.
Photos by Jan Grafton