Václav Novák led the way with three runs with the bat and four strike outs from 3.1 innings from the mound as Czechia recorded their first win of the tournament, beating Italy 11-6 on Wednesday.
Robin Mika opened the scoring in the first innings before Václav Novák and Matěj Kokorský also scored in the third, to open a 3-0 lead. Kokorský scored again in the fourth before Italy hit their straps with Diego Di Chiara, Gabriele Pucci, Tommaso Destro, Riccardo Orsenigo and Edoardo Angioni all scoring to tie the game up at 5-5.
Italy took the lead 6-5 in the bottom of the fifth inning with Angioni bringing home Destro before Czechia fought back thanks to Novák scoring again in the sixth and Alex Veselý scoring in the seventh before a double to center field saw Novák score David Jílek and Marek Ovesný. Novák reached home himself for his third of the game thanks to Martin Fajmon’s single to third.
The win keeps Czechia's hopes of finishing top of the Placement Round Group alive with their record now standing at 1-1 in third spot behind Japan 2-0 and Panama 2-1 with two games left to play. Czechia play Panama on Thursday while Italy (1-2) will play its last game of the tournament on Friday against Japan.