Tuesday 4 September – The London Meteors dropped two more games on Day 2 of the European Men’s Super Cup in Prague, and had the misfortune to be no-hit for the second time in the tournament by a familiar face: GB Men’s Team pitcher Kyle Linton.
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Kyle is playing in this tournament for the Braaschaat Braves from Belgium, and he threw all seven innings for the Braves this evening, striking out 15 Meteors batters, hitting one and issuing no walks as Braaschaat recorded a 6-0 win.
Earlier in the day, the Meteors had faced off against the Amager Vikings from Denmark and went down 10-3 in six innings.
Braaschaat Braves 6, London Meteors 0
Tom Russell, who was the hit batter in the top of the fourth inning against Braaschaat, was the only Meteors’ baserunner in the game, and he was thrown out trying to steal second base.
Czech guest pitcher Martin Zofka pitched a complete game for Meteors, giving up seven hits to go with four walks and two hit batters.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third inning, when the first two Braaschaat batters, Nathan van der Reijden and Santiago Lataire, both hit solo home runs to centre field.
After that, the Belgians tacked on, with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning, two more in the bottom of the fifth and a final run in the bottom of the sixth. The game never got away from the Meteors who, like the Braves, played errorless softball.
But the Meteors batters could do nothing against Kyle Linton, who has been a fixture in the GB Men’s Team for a number of years.
Amager Vikings 10, London Meteors 0
In the morning game, the Meteors played against two more familiar faces: GB Men’s Team Player/Manager Kevin Stockford and veteran GB infielder/outfielder Ryan Martin.
Kevin pitched the first three innings for the Danish team and held the Meteors scoreless, while Ryan Martin played third base and went 1-for-4 with a run scored.
But the game was really wrapped up in the bottom of the first inning when the Vikings scored six runs off Meteors starter and guest pitcher Jorge Luis Giraut. The Danish side had only two hits in the inning, including Ryan Martin’s lead-off single and another single later in the inning by catcher Asger Palm, but there were also two Meteors errors, two walks, a hit batter and a number of passed balls, including two that turned strikeouts into baserunners.
The Danes added two more runs in the bottom of the second inning, during which Josh Peat rook over the pitching from Jorge Luis Giraut and pitched the rest of the game, which ended when the Danes added two more runs and reached the mercy rule margin with no one out in the bottom of the sixth inning.
However, the Meteors forced the Vikings to go to a sixth inning by scoring three runs on four hits in the top of the fifth inning.
Damon Brown led off with an infield single, stole second and scored on Tom Russell’s single to right field off the Danes’ second pitcher, Alexander Lorentzen.
Matt Tomlin then beat out a bunt single and both runners moved up on Ieuan Gale’s sacrifice bunt. A single up the middle by Tom Priscott brought both runners home.
For the Meteors, it was good to generate some offense after being shut out and no-hit by the Czech team Zraloci Ledenice on Monday, though the team was to suffer the same fate later on Tuesday against the Braaschaat Braves.
Tomorrow, the Meteors will conclude the opening round-robin with games against the Dutch team Quick Amersfoort at 11.15 am Czech time and the Hoboken Pioneers from Belgium at 3.45 pm.
After that, on Thursday, it will be on to Placement playoffs.
Scores
Here are the scores from the second day of play at the European Men’s Super Cup:
POOL A
Amager Vikings 10, London Meteors 3
Braaschaat 6, Hoboken Pioneers 3
Amager Vikings 6, Zraloci Ledenice 1
Quick Amersfoort 8, Hoboken Pioneers 0
Braaschaat 6, London Meteors 0
POOL B
Gladsaxe 6, Barracudas Montpellier 0
Tempo 11, Bears 2
Stenlose Bulls 5, Barracudas Montpellier 3
Stenlose Bulls 5, Tempo 3
Spectrum Prague 9, Gladsaxe 0
POOL C
Borgerhout Squirrels 12, Cavigal Nice 0
Hoofddorp Pioneers 4, MRKI Medvedi 3
Von Holmback Hurricanes 10, Cavigal Nice 0
Borgerhout Squirrels 7, MRKI Medvedi 0
Hippos Havlickuv Brod 7, Hoofddorp Pioneers 2
Standings
Pool standings at the end of Day 2 are:
POOL A
Amager Vikings (4-0)
Braaschaat Braves (3-1)
Zraloci Ledenice (2-1)
Quick Amersfoort (1-2)
London Meteors (0-3)
Hoboken Pioneers (0-3)
POOL B
Stenlose Bulls (4-0)
Spectrum Prague (3-0)
Barracudas Montpellier (1-3)
Tempo (1-2)
Gladsaxe (1-2)
Bears (0-3)
POOL C
Hippos Havlickuv Brod (3-0)
Von Holmback Hurricanes (3-0)
Borgerhout Squirrels (2-1)
Hoofddorp Pioneers (2-2)
MRKI Medvedi (0-3)
Cavigal Nice (0-4)
You can follow all the results from the European Men's Super Cup here: http://competition.europeansoftball.org/2018/prague/schedule.php.