Tuesday 4 July – The GB Under-16 Men’s Team had their first hit and their first run at the European Under-16 Men’s Championship today in 
Sezimovo Usti in Czechia, and the GB Under-18 Men scored 13 runs in two games in the European Under-18 Men’s Championship.
Unfortunately, these achievements were part of three losses, as the fledgling GB Under-16 Team lost to Israel by a score of 16-1 in three innings, and the GB Under-18s lost 10-1 to Israel in five innings and then 22-12 to Denmark in four innings.
So there was progress for both GB teams on the field, but not in the standings.
GB Under-16s
Having dusted themselves down following yesterday’s opening game against Czechia, the GB Under-16 Men again looked confident as they took to the field.
Luca Taylor had the honour of leading off the game against Israeli pitcher Eduardo Tacher who threw two strikes before Luca made contact but hit the ball straight back to the pitcher and was put out at first.
Freddie Henry then drew a walk and went to second on a wild pitch. After Jacob Henry struck out, Freddie advanced to third on another wild pitch, but Charlie Thacker struck out to end GB’s first at-bat.
Charlie Thacker then took to the circle for GB and started well, but walks and a number of hits led to nine Israeli runs before Noah Hickling-Fox was given the ball in relief and ended the inning.
Noah Hickling-Fox then led off the second inning for GB and drove a long home run over the fence in right centre field to give the GB Under-16s their first hit, their first run, and their first home run in a European Championship.
There might have been more, as Lucas Harrison and Jonah Lord-Taylor drew walks and advanced on wild pitches, but a strikeout and a groundout ended the inning.
A new Israeli pitcher, Eytan Prihed, came in to face GB in the top of the third inning, but it was business as usual, as he had too much pace for the GB Under-16s.
GB then took to the field, where a couple of errors and a few walks saw the game get away from them and end 16-1 in favour of Israel.
Results on Tuesday in the European Under-16 Men’s Championship were:
Israel 16, GB 1
Czechia 17, Israel 0
Czechia 16, Denmark 1
Round-robin standings after two days of play are:
Czechia (2-0)
Denmark (1-1)
Israel (1-1)
Great Britain (0-2)
Tomorrow (Wednesday), the GB Under-16s will face a tough day, with Denmark as their opponent at 9.00 am Czech time and then a return match with Czechia at 6.00 pm.
GB Under-18s
Israel 10, GB 1
This was a close contest for the first two innings, with GB holding Israel to single runs in the top of the first and second innings, and getting back in the game with their first run of the tournament in the bottom of the second against Israeli starter Inbar Reemy, who pitched a complete game.
With one out in the bottom of the second inning, GB starting pitcher Connor Buxton drew a walk. Danny Casey-Wright popped up an attempted bunt for the second out, but Will Adams singled to right centre field and Connor came all the way around to score on an error by the Israeli right fielder.
That was the only threat GB could muster until the bottom of the fifth inning, by which time the Israelis, with four runs in the top of the third inning and another four in the top of the fifth, had extended their lead to 10-1.
With two out in the bottom of the fifth inning, GB right fielder Connor Peberdy singled to right field and then stole second base. The next batter, Raul Dodson-Richi, also singled to right field, but Connor was thrown out at home by Israeli right fielder Stav Yanovsky to end the game.
If nothing else, the GB offense had started to stir in this game, and in the next game, against Denmark, GB bats came well and truly alive.
Denmark 22, GB 12
GB out-hit the Danes in this game by 11-8, and committed only two errors while the Danes committed four.
In the bottom of the second inning, the GB Under-18s had five hits against Danish pitcher Mads Kirchhoff-Lund, along with a walk, a hit batter, a wild pitch and an error, and put a total of eight runs on the board to go with the two runs they had scored in the bottom of the first inning.
Unfortunately, by that time, the Danes had already scored 22 runs – nine in the top of the first inning and 13 in the bottom of the second. In the first inning, the main problem was seven walks and two hit batters. The Danish second inning saw more of the same, with five walks and two hit batters – and this time the Danes also hit the ball, with three singles and three doubles.
The result of all this was an insurmountable Danish lead.
In the GB first inning, a leadoff infield single by Sam Buxton, a single up the middle by Connor Buxton and a double by Charlie Barnes produced the two runs.
In the big GB explosion in the second inning, after a walk, an error and a fielder’s choice loaded the bases, there were three straight GB hits – a double by Will Adams, a single to left by Connor Buxton and a single to right by Edan Lord. The sequence was interrupted when Charlie Barnes was hit by a pitch, but then two more singles followed, by Kyle Johnson and Connor Peberdy.
But of course those eight GB runs only brought the score to 22-10 in favour of Denmark.
The Danes failed to score after the second inning, as Kyle Johnson and Sam Buxton kept them at bay for the last two innings of the game.
The GB offense had one more go in the bottom of the fourth inning when triples by Luis Allan Arrevillagas and Sam Buxton were sandwiched around a single by Bailey Brown. That outburst brought in two runs and knocked out the Danish pitcher, but a strikeout ended the game.
This was a hugely encouraging performance by GB Under-18 batters, and the hope is that it can carry on through the rest of the tournament.
Results on Tuesday in the European Under-18 Men’s Championship were:
Denmark 10, Croatia 0
Israel 10, GB 1
Czechia 16, Croatia 0
Denmark 22, GB 12
Czechia 8, Israel 0 (latest score)
Round-robin standings after two days of play are:
Czechia (4-0)
Israel (2-1)
Denmark (2-1)
Croatia (0-3)
Great Britain (0-3)
Tomorrow (Wednesday), Great Britain will play Croatia at 1.00 pm Czech time.