Saturday 8 July – After the GB Under-18 Men’s Team split a pair of games on Friday and the GB Under-16 Men’s Team lost to Israel, both teams 
will look forward to bronze medal games today as their concurrent European Championships in Czechia come to an end.
GB Under-18s
GB 9, Croatia 2
This was the game that the GB Under-18 Men had to win to ensure a place in Saturday’s bronze medal game, and they did so in style, beating Croatia for the second time this week, and never looking back after they took a 3-2 lead at the end of the first inning.
GB pitcher Connor Buxton pitched his best game of the week, giving up only five hits and no earned runs, striking out six and, crucially, not allowing a single walk. Croatia’s two runs in the top of the first inning were the result of two British errors, and after that the Croatians had very few baserunners. Their only other threat, in the top of the third inning, was choked off by an out at the plate.
Meanwhile, GB had no such trouble scoring runs, with three runs each in the first, third, and fifth innings. Those three runs in the fifth inning, taking the score to 9-2, brought the game to an end on the mercy rule.
In the bottom of the first inning, after Croatia had scored those two unearned runs, GB went to work immediately against Croatian starter Patrick Krutman.
With one out, Connor Peberdy and Connor Buxton walked, and with two out, Kyle Johnson reached on an infield hit to load the bases. Edan Lord’s single up the middle drove in two runs, and Kyle Johnson scored when the Croatians failed to get an out on Danny Casey-Wright’s ground ball. GB had a 3-2 lead, and they were never going to relinquish it.
GB loaded the bases in the bottom of the second inning without being able to score, but three more runs came in the bottom of the third, thanks more to Croatian pitching than GB hitting. Five straight walks to lead off the inning, to Edan Lord, Danny Casey-Wright, Charlie Barnes, Fin James and Sam Buxton, brought two runs home and led to a Croatian pitching change, Mark Vusic replacing Patrick Krutman.
Vusic immediately hit Connor Peberdy with a pitch, bringing in the third run of the inning, with the bases still loaded and no one out. But the Croatians escaped further damage when Connor Buxton struck out and Luis Allan Arrevillagas hit into a 1-2-3 double play. The GB Under-18s were pulling away, with the score now 6-2.
Fast-forward to the bottom of the fifth inning, and GB went back on the attack. With one out, consecutive singles by Sam Buxton, Connor Peberdy and Connor Buxton brought two runs home. A walk to Luis Allan Arrevillagas and an intentional walk to Kyle Johnson loaded the bases, as the Croatians looked to set up an inning-ending double play. But the plan went awry: a wild pitch allowed Connor Buxton to score and ended the game on the mercy rule with the score at 9-2.
It was a convincing performance for the GB Under-18s, and their second win of the tournament.
Denmark 17, GB 2
When the GB Team took the field again on Friday afternoon against Denmark, they knew they were going to be in Saturday’s bronze medal game regardless of this result.
GB took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Danish starter Valdemar Stjernholm when Sam Buxton led off with a double to left field and scored on a single up the middle by Luis Allan Arrevillagas.
But Denmark countered with 13 runs in the bottom off the first inning off Raul Dodson-Richi, who started the game, and Kyle Johnson, who came in to relieve him, and that was pretty much that.
Denmark scored another four runs in the bottom of the second inning.
GB scored a final run in the top of the third inning when Sam Buxton reached on an error, went to second and then to third on wild pitches by Danish relief pitcher Mads Kirchhoff-Lund, and scored on an infield hit by Luis Allan Arrevillagas. But a strikeout, a ground out and a fly out followed, and with Denmark ahead 17-2, the mercy rule brought the game to an end.
GB will face the Danes again, for the third time this week, in the bronze medal game on Saturday, while Czechia and Israel will play for the gold medal.
Results on the last day of round-robin play at the European Under-18 Men’s Championship were:
Great Britain 9, Croatia 2
Israel 13, Denmark 1
Czechia 12, Croatia 0
Denmark 17, Great Britain 2
Czechia 6, Israel 0
Final round-robin standings in the tournament were:
Czechia (8-0)
Israel (5-3)
Denmark (5-3)
Great Britain (2-6)
Croatia (0-8)
GB Under-16s
By Simon Thacker
The voices of the team singing our national anthem have got louder every day as these Young Lions refuse to cower, even though facing far more experienced players.
In this game, which lasted for three innings, the GB Under-16s scored a run in every inning, though without the benefit of a hit, and recorded their highest run total so far in the tournament. Israeli pitcher Eytan Prihed may have been tough to hit, but he did walk six GB batters, hit a batter, and threw a substantial number of wild pitches. This allowed Luca Fox, who led off with a walk, to score in the bottom of the first inning; Ben Thomas, who led off with a hit-by-pitch, to score in the bottom of the second inning; and Lucas Harrison, who led off with a walk, to score in the bottom of the third inning. GB had the bases loaded in the second inning, but couldn’t manage any further runs.
Meanwhile, the Israelis were also scoring in every inning, but their tally was nine runs in the top of the first inning, 11 in the top of the second inning, and 10 in the top of the third.
Nathan Wyborn was the starting pitcher for GB, and the big blow against him in the top of the first inning was Omer Broker’s grand slam home run. Five other hits and seven walks helped Israel score nine runs in total, but Nathan also struck out two Israeli batters.
Ethan Hull pitched the remainder of the game for the GB Under-16s, and at the end of three innings the final score was 30-3.
Watching the game from the spectators’ area, I heard a comment from the umpires on their way to their changing room: “Even though GB had 30 runs against them, they were still smiling from ear to ear! These boys have heart!”
The team is giving every game 110% and their heads never drop. Well done, GB!
The team now has to dust themselves off and prepare for Saturday’s bronze medal game, where they will again face the Israelis. The team has been getting stronger with every game, and hopefully will bring their A game against Israel in their third meeting this week.
Later, Czechia and Denmark will play for the gold medal.
Results on the last day of round-robin play at the European Under-16 Men’s Championship were:
Israel 30, Great Britain 3
Czechia 15, Denmark 0
Final round-robin standings in the tournament were:
Czechia (6-0)
Denmark (4-2)
Israel (2-4)
Great Britain (0-6)