World Baseball Classic Qualifier
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Regensburg, Germany. The German national team has reached the final at the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Regensburg. In front of 1,452 people in attendance at the Armin-Wolf-Arena on Sunday afternoon, Greg Frady’s squad crushed Great Britain 16-1 in seven innings to reach a final berth against Canada on Monday evening. The British team is eliminated, suffering its second loss.
After the tough game against Canada on Saturday evening, Germany didn’t look flat at all on offense just 14-plus hours later. They took a quick 3-0 lead in the first on a RBI single by Donald Lutz and sac flies by Aaron Altherr and Jake Shaffer. A two-run single by Max Kepler made it 5-0 in the second.
Following two scoreless innings, Germany struck again in the fifth with a towering two-run home run by Altherr over the TV production trucks in left field and a two-run double by Toby Gardenhire. A sac fly by Max Weaver in the sixth. Mike Larson with a pinch-hit two-run single and Kai Gronauer with a RBI single started another rally in the seventh. Max Weaver capped it with a three-run home run to left field.
Great Britain had just one base runner through six innings and didn’t score until the seventh. Albert Cartwright led off the frame with a single to break off the no-no and scored all the way from first on a one-out single by BJ Roper-Hubbert, ending the shutout bid.
The story of the game however, was Germany’s ace Enorbel Marquez-Ramirez. Pitching for the first time since giving up seven runs against Spain in the decisive game at the European Championship eight days ago, the southpaw completely dominated the British lineup. He was perfect through 3 2/3 innings and didn’t allow a hit until Cartwright’s single through the left side of the infield in the seventh. Overall Marquez-Ramirez gave up just one run on two hits in the first complete game of the World Baseball Classic Qualifier. He struck out eight for the win. “The game was very good for us. The coach told me before that we need to win and that’s exactly what I did today. I am very satisfied with my performance and if we play that way tomorrow, we’ll win again.”
For Great Britain pitchers Kyle Wilson, Greg Hendrix, Daniel Cooper, Hamilton Bennett and Estevenson Encarnacion and David Rees were overmatched by the powerful German offense. They combined to allow 13 hits, 16 runs and seven walks. Wilson ended up with the loss. The starter didn’t even survive one out in the opening period, allowing three runs and two walks. He left after just 13 pitches, four of them for strikes. “That was kind of ugly. We couldn’t do anything and it felt like a nightmare.”, said GB’s manager Sam Dempster after the game.
The final game between Canada and Germany will be played at 7pm local time on Monday evening at the Armin-Wolf-Arena in Regensburg. A live stream of the game is available 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
Sunday, September 23:
Great Britain 1 – Germany 16 (Great Britain eliminated after second loss)
Photo by Gregor Eisenhuth
