Baseball Europe/Africa Qualifier: Israel becomes team to beat; Spain, Italy earn first wins
A complete recap of the three games played during Day 2 of the Baseball Europe Africa Qualifier: South Africa-Spain, Netherlands-Israel, Czech Republic-Italy. Links will lead you to the full reports, box scores, statistics and pictures
This is a complete recap of the games played during Day 2 of the WBSC Europe/Africa Qualifying Event for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020. The tournament now has Israel as the team to beat.
Four Israeli pitchers limited the powerful Dutch lineup to five hits and allowed only one walk. A two-run homer by catcher Nick Rickles set the ton in the bottom of the first, a three-RBI double by second baseman Mitch Glasser broke the score open in the second. Israel outscored the three-time defending European Champions The Netherlands, 8-1.
Chris Colabello hit a home run and had a four-RBI game to lead Italy to the first win in the tournament. The Azzurri defeated the Czech Republic, 5-1. Angelo Palumbo went six innings to earn the win.
Spain defeated South Africa, 7-1, in a game delayed by rain and earned the first win in the tournament. Blake Ochoa hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth off Jared Elario to break the tie.
