2012 European Baseball Championship
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The 2012 European Baseball Championship was an international baseball tournament held from 7–16 September 2012.[1] The Confederation of European Baseball selected the Netherlands to host the tournament, with games played in Rotterdam, Haarlem, and Utrecht.
| |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Country | Netherlands |
| Dates | 7 – 16 September 2012 |
| Teams | 12 |
| Defending champions |  Italy |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Italy (10th title) |
| Runners-up |  Netherlands |
| Third place |  Spain |
| Fourth place |  Germany |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 43 |
| Attendance | 26,200 (609 per game) |
Italy went undefeated and repeated as European champions. Lorenzo Avagnina was named the most valuable player of the tournament, and Luca Panerati was the top pitcher in the tournament. The Italian team featured future Major League Baseball (MLB) player Chris Collabello and hitting coach Mike Piazza, who was later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Netherlands, who had former MLB players Shairon Martis and Yurendell DeCaster, again finished second.
Two former MLB players managed other squads. Jim Essian managed Greece, and Dennis Cook managed Sweden.[2][3]
Qualification
Twelve teams competed in the tournament. The top seven teams from the 2010 European championship qualified automatically, and five teams won qualification tournaments.
| Pool A | Pool B | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 Croatia | Winner of Zagreb pool |  Belgium | Winner of Antwerp pool |
 Greece | 4th, 2010 European Baseball Championship |  Czech Republic | 7th, 2010 European Baseball Championship |
Italy |  2010 European Baseball Championship |
 France | 6th, 2010 European Baseball Championship |
 Russia | Winner of Krymsk pool | Germany |  2010 European Baseball Championship |
Spain | Winner of Barcelona pool |  Great Britain | Winner of Tel Aviv pool |
 Sweden | 5th, 2010 European Baseball Championship | Netherlands |  2010 European Baseball Championship |
Round 1
The six teams in both pools played a round-robin tournament. The top three teams from each group qualified for the championship pool, Pool C. The fourth, fifth, and sixth place finishers in each group played one game against the team that finished in the same place in the other group to determine the seventh through twelfth place rankings.[3]
Pool A
Standings
| Qualified for Pool C | |
| Did not qualify for Pool C |
Source[4]
Schedule
| September 7, 2012 | Spain |
10 – 0 (F/8) | Greece |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 235 |
| Boxscore |
| September 7, 2012 | Sweden |
14 – 1 (F/7) | Russia |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 70 |
| Boxscore |
| September 7, 2012 | Croatia |
0 – 16 (F/5) | Italy |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 175 |
| Boxscore |
| September 8, 2012 | Russia |
1 – 10 | Spain |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 80 |
| Boxscore |
| September 8, 2012 | Greece |
7 – 2 | Croatia |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 360 |
| Boxscore |
| September 8, 2012 | Italy |
8 – 1 | Sweden |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 250 |
| Boxscore |
| September 9, 2012 | Sweden |
4 – 2 | Croatia |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 125 |
| Boxscore |
| September 9, 2012 | Italy |
4 – 3 | Spain |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 165 |
| Boxscore |
| September 9, 2012 | Greece |
9 – 5 | Russia |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 40 |
| Boxscore |
| September 10, 2012 | Croatia |
8 – 4 | Russia |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 55 |
| Boxscore |
| September 10, 2012 | Sweden |
1 – 13 (F/7) | Spain |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 200 |
| Boxscore |
| September 10, 2012 | Italy |
7 – 0 | Greece |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 80 |
| Boxscore |
| September 11, 2012 | Spain |
6 – 0 | Croatia |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 36 |
| Boxscore |
| September 11, 2012 | Greece |
3 – 5 | Sweden |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 270 |
| Boxscore |
| September 11, 2012 | Russia |
0 – 10 (F/7) | Italy |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 75 |
| Boxscore |
Source[5]
Pool B
The Czech Republic defeated the Netherlands, 3–2 in 10 innings, the team's first ever win over the Dutch.[6]
Standings
| Qualified for Pool C | |
| Did not qualify for Pool C |
| Teams | W | L | Pct. | GB | R | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 4 | 1 | .800 | – | 55 | 5 |
| Germany | 4 | 1 | .800 | – | 29 | 20 |
| Czech Republic | 3 | 2 | .600 | 1 | 26 | 16 |
| France | 2 | 3 | .400 | 2 | 15 | 38 |
| Belgium | 1 | 4 | .200 | 3 | 23 | 55 |
| Great Britain | 1 | 4 | .200 | 3 | 17 | 31 |
Source[4]
Schedule
| September 7, 2012 | Czech Republic |
4 – 5 (F/10) | Germany |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 370 |
| Boxscore |
| September 7, 2012 | France |
3 – 1 | Great Britain |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 80 |
| Boxscore |
| September 7, 2012 | Belgium |
0 – 17 (F/6) | Netherlands |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 2,000 |
| Boxscore |
| September 8, 2012 | Germany |
10 – 2 | Belgium |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 535 |
| Boxscore |
| September 8, 2012 | Netherlands |
15 – 0 (F/5) | France |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 2,115 |
| Boxscore |
| September 8, 2012 | Great Britain |
6 – 1 | Czech Republic |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 259 |
| Boxscore |
| September 9, 2012 | Netherlands |
2 – 3 (F/10) | Czech Republic |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 2,400 |
| Boxscore |
| September 9, 2012 | France |
9 – 8 | Belgium |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 125 |
| Boxscore |
| September 9, 2012 | Germany |
6 – 1 | Great Britain |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 350 |
| Boxscore |
| September 10, 2012 | France |
0 – 6 | Czech Republic |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 175 |
| Boxscore |
| September 10, 2012 | Belgium |
10 – 7 | Great Britain |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 270 |
| Boxscore |
| September 10, 2012 | Netherlands |
10 – 0 (F/7) | Germany |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 2200 |
| Boxscore |
| September 11, 2012 | Germany |
8 – 3 | France |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 175 |
| Boxscore |
| September 11, 2012 | Czech Republic |
12 – 3 | Belgium |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 125 |
| Boxscore |
| September 11, 2012 | Great Britain |
2 – 11 | Netherlands |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 2,000 |
| Boxscore |
Source[5]
Classification games
11th place game
| September 12, 2012 | Russia |
2 – 6 | Great Britain |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 115 |
| Boxscore |
9th place game
| September 12, 2012 | Belgium |
3 – 2 | Croatia |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 175 |
| Boxscore |
7th place game
| September 12, 2012 | France |
5 – 9 | Greece |
Vleuten Sportpark, Utrecht Attendance: 65 |
| Boxscore |
Source[5]
Round 2
Pool C
Spain secured a third-place finish in the tournament by defeating Germany in their final game.[7]
Italy defeated the Netherlands in their pool game, ensuring it would be the home team for the championship game in Rotterdam.[8]
Standings
| Teams | W | L | Pct. | GB | R | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | – | 22 | 7 |
| Netherlands | 3 | 2 | .600 | 2 | 34 | 8 |
| Spain | 3 | 2 | .600 | 2 | 30 | 18 |
| Germany | 2 | 3 | .400 | 3 | 21 | 28 |
| Czech Republic | 2 | 3 | .400 | 3 | 18 | 21 |
| Sweden | 0 | 5 | .000 | 5 | 11 | 54 |
Source[4]
Schedule
| September 13, 2012 | Spain |
6 – 5 | Czech Republic |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 580 |
| Boxscore |
| September 13, 2012 | Italy |
3 – 0 | Germany |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 195 |
| Boxscore |
| September 13, 2012 | Sweden |
1 – 17 (F/6) | Netherlands |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 2,200 |
| Boxscore |
| September 14, 2012 | Germany |
10 – 3 | Sweden |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 125 |
| Boxscore |
| September 14, 2012 | Netherlands |
2 – 0 | Spain |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 1,415 |
| Boxscore |
| September 14, 2012 | Czech Republic |
0 – 3 | Italy |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 100 |
| Boxscore |
| September 15, 2012 | Czech Republic |
6 – 5 | Sweden |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 175 |
| Boxscore |
| September 15, 2012 | Germany |
6 – 8 | Spain |
Pim Mulier Baseball Stadium, Haarlem Attendance: 175 |
| Boxscore |
| September 15, 2012 | Italy |
4 – 3 | Netherlands |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 1,485 |
| Boxscore |
Source[5]
Championship game
Italy defeated the Netherlands in the championship game, with Lorenzo Avagnina batting 4-for-5. Italian starter John Mariotti limited the Dutch offense, thought Quintin de Cuba hit a home run in a losing effort.[2][9]
| September 16, 2012 | Italy |
8 – 3 | Netherlands |
Neptunus Family Stadium, Rotterdam Attendance: 4,000 |
| Boxscore | ||||
| HR: Quintin de Cuba |
Final standings
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Source[4]
Awards and leaders
- Most valuable player:
Lorenzo Avagnina - Outstanding defensive player:
Nick Urbanus - Best pitcher (win–loss record and earned run average): Luca Panerati, 2–0 and 0.00 in 13 innings pitched
- Best batting average:
Paco Figueroa, .600 - Most runs batted in: Dewis Navarro
- Most runs scored: Figueroa, 6
- Most stolen bases: Kalian Sams, 2
- Hit for the cycle: Sams, against Belgium