GB BASEBALL GAIN HIGHEST EVER FINISH AT EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Great Britain Baseball team finished the 2005 European
Championships with a victory, an improvement on 2003’s
placing and their highest-ever finish in the competition.
A 9-1 win over Greece gave them a 4-4 record and seventh place
overall out of 12, bettering the ninth place of 2003. After
a difficult first phase of the Championships, Great Britain
posted a winning record in the second half, finishing first
in the lower half of the standings, and ensuring they stay
in Pool A, the best group of countries in the European Championships.
While this is the best result ever by GB Baseball, there
is a clear sense from the camp that it could have been so
much better. True, they were at a disadvantage by being put
in the tougher group in the first stage, including Euro-baseball
power houses Italy and the Netherlands, nations which have
been invited to Major League Baseball’s inaugural World
Baseball Classic in spring 2006. However, the verdict is that
GB were capable of competing more closely than they did with
the teams in this group.
The turning point overall was clearly the 3-4 loss to Germany
in the first stage of the competition where twice GB had the
bases loaded but only generated one run in total from the
situation. From this point any chance of qualifying for the
higher group of the second stage was in the hands of other
teams. Tantalisingly, Britain finished the first group stage
with a 2-3 record, tied with Germany for the third place which
would have sent them to the higher group, but dropped to fourth
due to their previous loss against the Germans.
So, Week 2 saw GB Baseball in the bottom half of the competition
where the best possible outcome was a seventh place finish.
This stage opened with GB’s most disappointing game
from the tournament, a 2-3 loss to Ukraine. More disappointing
than the result was the manner in which it happened –
only four hits, six errors and three unearned runs.
However, GB rallied from this in great style. To attain seventh
place they needed a Ukranian loss and to win their final two
games. The Ukranians obliged and GB closed out the tournament
in great style, crushing first Croatia 13-3 and Greece 9-1
– and further demonstrating the potential this GB team
had to have finished higher.
Final Game: 16 July: GB 9, Greece 1
Alex Smith was the starting pitcher for 6.3 innings and gave
up no runs. Alex had to retire when a line-drive hit off his
shin, put the Greek run on. Aiden McQueary-Ennis then came
in and the unearned run scored following a couple errors.
Nick Carter closed out the game. GB scored all their runs
in the first half of the game with each of Brad Marcelino,
Aiden McQueary-Ennis, David Donaldson, Sam Whitehead and Ian
Young getting two hits – and in Ian’s case cliniching
the batting title.
A Team Loss, But A Team Spirit
On returning, Tom Gillespie summed up the reaction of the
team as being distraught to have not better fulfilled their
potential. But he stressed the point that this was a team
reaction, felt by everyone involved, GB-based and overseas
players alike, which speaks volumes to the spirit engendered
throughout the camp by Head Coach, Stephan Rapaglia and Manager,
Alan Smith.
It should also be noted that there were significant positives
from the experience beyond the fact that GB finished higher
than ever before. Ian Young, who has played in back-to-back
European Championships, won the batting title for the entire
tournament. Alex Smith, with two wins, was joint leader of
the pitching title. Adam Roberts had the highest hit-by-pitch
count with eight.
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