European Championship: Tournament starts on Sunday. Will Czechs finally bring a medal?
Czech national team will open European Championship with the game against Sweden. The tournament will mark the end of era for Czech baseball, as it’s the last time Mike Griffin will be in charge of the national team. Pavel Chadim should take over after him.
Canadian coach and his team, however, has a huge goal ahead of them. If they were to bring a medal from Italy, it would mark a culmination of years of hard work this generation put into improving Czech baseball. So far, the best place for the national team was 4th spot in 2014. Currently, there are 10 countries who earned a medal at European Championship, with Netherlands reigning at the top with 23 titles.
And it is Netherlands who are one of the opponents for Czech Republic in the group stage. Despite promising a younger roster, the goal was only partially fulfilled and Netherlands team contains names such as Dwayne Kemp, Mike Bolsenbroek, Sharlon Schoop and thirty-seven year old Roger Bernadina.
The championship also promises a rather interesting first when Czech and Slovak national teams meet each other for the first time in A Category. Slovaks will not have Adam Macko, who is currently playing for Seattle Mariners farm team, but they can rely on Jakub Ižold and several players from Czech leagues.
The only Czech minor league player, Martin Červenka, is also not a part of the roster. On the other, Vojtěch Menšík, who signed contract with Los Angeles Angels, is already in Italy and ready to play. Czechs already played two friendly games. The lost the first game 4-6 against Italy and tied 1-1 with France in the second.
You can find the tournament schedule at wbsceurope.org, where there will be links to play-by-play and stream as well. Milujeme-baseball will also be present on site this year and we will bring you fresh information.
