Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Israel all went undefeated en route to advancing to the XXXVI Baseball European Championship quarterfinals. The top European baseball competition opened in the Piemonte region, northwestern Italy, on Sunday, 12 September.
Belgium, Croatia, Great Britain and the Czech Republic were the four runner-ups that also made the cut into the quarters, which are scheduled to open on Thursday, 16 September, with four games on tap:
- Croatia @ Italy
- Belgium @ Spain
- Czech Republic @ Israel
- Great Britain @ Netherlands
The winners will advance to the semifinals on Friday. The bronze medal game and the European Championship game are scheduled for Sunday, 19 September, in Torino.
European squads such as Germany and France couldn't make it out of the group stage in the 16-team tournament and will now have to fight to avoid relegation.
World No. 8 Netherlands (23) and No. 17 Italy (10) have won all European baseball titles but two. Spain won on home soil the second edition of the European Championship in 1955. Belgium won on home soil in the 1967 edition, but neither the Netherlands nor Italy participated.
RESULTS, PLAY BY PLAY, STATS, STANDINGS
The games of the XXXVI Baseball European Championship are being streamed live on Baseballsoftball.tv, subject to geo-blocking in certain territories.
Cover photo is by K73/NADOC-FIBS.
