World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Regensburg
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Regensburg, Germany. Canada has reached the final at the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Regensburg, Germany. They defeated Germany 16-7 after scoring 12 runs in the last three frames en route to the win. 4,085 in attendance at the Armin-Wolf-Arena on Saturday evening saw a tight ball game for the first six innings. In the seventh a homerun by Tyson Gillies broke a 4-4 tie and two five-run rallies turned the score into a blowout.
It was a back and forth affair in the beginning of the game. Jimmy van Ostrand handed Canada twice a lead with a three-run homerun in the first and a solo homerun in the third. Germany was able to tie it twice, first with consecutive singles by Eric Suttle and Matt Vance and then with a RBI groundout by Jake Shaffer.
The score remained at 4-4 until the seventh inning. Luke Sommer, who had kept the Canadian offense in check in relief from the fourth to the sixth, left a pitch up in the zone and Tyson Gillies said thank you with a tie-breaking solo homerun to lead off the frame. 11 more runs followed in the next three innings and Canada ran away with a lopsided victory. Jordan Lennerton and Rene Tosoni (grand slam) hit pinch hit home runs to blow the score wide open.
In total both teams combined for 23 runs on 33 hits and eight walks. Van Ostrand was the best with four hits, two home runs, three runs and five RBI. Simon Guehring scored twice for Germany. Matt Vance had three hits. Sheldon McDonald ended up with the win, Luke Sommer with the loss, both pitching in relief. Germany’s manager Greg Frady got ejected in the eighth inning, arguing after a balk call at first base.
Germany is now playing Great Britain on Sunday afternoon at 2pm, while Canada can enjoy another rest day looking ahead to the final game on Monday at 7pm.
The full game is available as video on demand at www.worldbaseballclassic.com.
Complete Results:
Thursday, September 20:
Canada 11 – Great Britain 1
Friday, September 21:
Germany 16 – Czech Republic 1
Saturday, September 22:
Czech Republic 5 – Great Britain 12 (Czech Republic eliminated after second loss)
Germany 7 – Canada 16
Photo by Gregor Eisenhuth
