U23 EC: The second game brought a narrow loss against Netherland
Czech national team played their second game at U23 European Championship on Wednesday. This time against the reigning European champions, Netherland.
After loosing to the Great Britain, Czechs needed to beat their opponent, or face tough odds for semifinals. And they didn’t start bad. David Mergans kept his opponents scoreless and hitless through two innings in tough weather conditions. On the other hand, Czechs scored their first run in the second inning after a sacrificial hit from Tomáš Chadim. And it was a long one as it only needed a couple of meters to fly outside of the park.
Dutch scored in the third inning, when their first hit became the first run. Jeandro Tromp hit the ball between the first and second base and batted in Raydley Leigit.
The fifth inning saw an unfortunate event for the Czech team when Tomáš Chadim caught a ball flying into foul territory, but he then slipped and went through the fence at Vienna field. Czech left the field without help, but he had to be substituted by Marek Slabý.
The score changed in the sixth inning. With two outs and one runner on base, Dutch got two hits, which they turned into their second run. Mergans was then substituted on the mound by Šimon Blažek who quickly closed the inning.
Czechs were close to tying the game in the sixth inning. Marek Krejčiřík walked to start the inning, afterwards showing two brave steals. Thanks to this Czechs got a runner on the third without an out. However, it was followed by three hits into the inner field and the inning ended. The missed chance was obvious, as Dutch didn’t give them the same opportunity in the following inning. Czechs only got one hit in the game and they currently have 3 runs through 2 games.
After losing 1-2 Czechs still wait for their first win of the championship. Furthermore, if Great Britain beats Austria later today, they will lose any hope of the semifinals. In that case they will only play the placement game against Austria on Thursday.
