(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Yvonne Krabbendam)
       Day 2 Prague Baseball Week in the books
Nederlands
  PRAGUE 4 / PRAGUE (Czech Rep.) -
The National Under-23 Team of the Czech Republic and the team of the International Future Stars recorded their second win on a cloudy and sometimes rainy Wednesday (June 27), Day 2 of the annual Prague Baseball Week at the Eagles Praha Complex in the Czech capital.
Rain is expected for Thursday, so it is hoped that the four scheduled games can be played.
The second day of the event opened in the morning with a 9-6 win of Belarus against Poland in Pool B.
For the Belarussian squad, this was its first win, while Poland suffered its second loss.
In the afternoon, 3n2 International Stars won its first game of the tournament in Pool A.
The team won 8-3 against the National Under-18 Team of Italy, which also had lost its first game.
Italy initially led 2-0, but a 3-run homerun by Kyle Strauss in the fourth inning turned the game around.
The international squad then added five runs in the ninth inning.
...Hoofddorp Pioniers-player Max Draijer...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Also in the afternoon, in a game that had a brief rain-delay, the team of the International Future Stars recorded a convincing 13-3 win in seven innings against Russia to stay unbeaten in Pool B.
Russia opened the event on Tuesday with a win.
Jorge Vrolijk was 3-for-3 with a double and walked twice for the Future Stars, scored three runs and batted in two.
Max Draijer was 0-for-3, but scored once and also batted in a run.
Tijani Dunlop was 1-for-4 in this game.
He scored twice and batted in one run.
The second day ended with a 9-0 shutout-win of the Czech Team against NSW Blue Sox in Pool A.
With that, the Czechs won its second game, while the Australians lost their first one.
Before the evening-game, a Homerun Derby was held.
Martin Mužík, catcher of the Czech Under-23 Team, was the winner.
On a chilly Summer-evening, the game between the Czechs and Australians remained scoreless for five innings.
The Czech team then opened the score in the top of the sixth inning when a strikeout ended in a passed ball.
A bloop-single accounted for two more runs moments later.
The Czechs added two more runs in the eighth and rallied for four runs in the ninth at bat.
Dutch umpire Henri van Heijningen officiated in two games again today.
He was at third base in the 4-man crew during the afternoon-game between Italy and the 3n2 International Stars.
In the evening-game, Van Heijningen was the 2B Umpire.
Besides Van Heijningen, there are eight more umpires in the tournament with three of them also coming from abroad.
They are Damon Baesen (Belgium), Mojmir Jankovic (Slovakia) and Sascha Pammesberger (Austria).
They are joined by five umpires from host country Czech Republic: Miroslav Kaigl, Vladimír Richter, Michal Rotter, Rostislav Vedlich and Zdeněl Židek.
All officials are being taken care off very well and enjoy good meals at the site of Eagles Praha.
Also on Wednesday, the 21st edition of the Prague Softball Week went underway with the participation of eleven teams.
Dutch Coach Mary-Ann Hatt is one of the coaches of the National Team of Germany.
(June 27)
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