EC: Brits ended Czech medal dreams in quarterfinals
Czech players wanted to break the curse of quarterfinals games and finally get a chance to fight for medals. However, they needed to beat the Great Britain first.
The hosts started the important game with Martin Schneider on the mound. He kept Brits scoreless for two innings, relying on the defense. Marek Chlup’s throw in the first inning especially has to be one of the highlights of the tournament.
Eric Sogard then blasted a two run homerun and the fan in YD Arena’s stands went wild. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. Czechs started to make defensive errors, which gave the Great Britain an advantage. They tied the game quickly for Nick Ward’s homerun to give them 3-2 lead.
Czech bats were able to get hits for the rest of the game, but not the runs. On the other hand Brits kicked it up a notch in the fifth inning and took a more decisive lead with five runs scored.
Jeffrey Barto came on the mound in the fifth inning and he finished the game. Unfortunately, opponent’s bats awoken in the eighth inning again starting with a solo homerun from Shamoy Christopher. The tenth run came from the bat of Jacob Lambdin, followed by a walk-off homerun from Harry Ford, thanks to which the game finished 2-12 after 8 innings.
„We started well. However, we can’t make so many errors, this is clear. We pressed in the offense and kept up with them, but we couldn’t keep the tempo, which is needed against such teams, in the defense. They have a quality and the moment we make errors it energizes such team. This is baseball. We fought, we wanted it, but they were like a runaway train,“ said captain Petr Zýma after the game. „The tournament is not over. We are disappointed since we wanted to break a generation without medals. We all invest all our free time into it. That’s why it hurts, but that’s natural. But we will be back tomorrow trying to get the best place we can. We will fight for the fifth place. I can guarantee we will come in the full force and with energy. We will do everything to win the remaining two games.“
„Czech baseball program is very good. We respect them. It was a good game between two programs. I’m very happy with the results. My guys played well. They did what we asked them to do,“ said Great Britain’s manager Drew Spencer. „Our goal was to get to the semifinals. We finished sixth in Torino in 2021 and the goal of our program is to get better very year.“
Czech team will play against France, who lost to Germany, on Friday at 18:30 in YD Arena. We get to see Germany against Great Britain and Spain against Netherlands in the semifinals.
