2025 Under-23 European Baseball Championship: Great Britain Wins First European Title
By Gabriel Fidler.
2025 Under-23 European Baseball Championship, as Great Britain came from behind to upset the Netherlands, while the Czech Republic put together a strong, all-around performance to defeat Italy. U23 Baseball Euros finished its penultimate day.
Czech Republic – Great Britain
In the championship game and nightcap, the hosts jumped out to an early lead against starter Cam Moore, making his first appearance of the tournament. Šimon Klacl and Michal Šindelka would walk, Jan Pospíšil dropped down a perfect bunt for a single, and a pair of fielder’s choice groundouts scored Czechia’s first two runs, with a Michal Pokorný single bringing home another. Eddie Taylor got the call from the bullpen as Manager Jonathan Cramman made the early switch, with Taylor entering with two down in the inning. He struck out Ondřej Hrdlička to end the rally, but Great Britain was at a three-run deficit before its first at-bat.
Great Britain was unable to score in its half of the first, and the Czech Republic added to its lead in the second. Once more, it with the top of the order delivering, as Šindelka and Pospíšil hit back-to-back one-out singles to score a run, before Šimon Drápela tripled to score two.
A triple from Matěj Vlach and a single from Klacl another added against Ollie Duthie in the third inning, and GB found itself in a familiar position: with a significant deficit in a European Championship Final.
Jay Smith, however, had other plans. With the bases loaded against Czech starter David Křeček in the bottom of the third, the speedy outfielder laced a double to left centre to clear the bases, scoring Tucker Stockman, Quinn Allenm, and Andrew Johnston. Matyáš Trčka was summoned from the bullpen, and was greeted by Jackson Wallis, who launched a two-run home run to left field. When all was said and done, five British runs had crossed the plate, and the score was now only 7-5 in favour of the Czechs.
Duthie took command of the game on the hill for Great Britain, working around a leadoff double by Milan Prokop in the fourth to retire the next eight batters. After surrendering a single in the sixth, he gave way to Zac Colletti (2-0), who got a first-pitch pop-up to end the inning. Duthie was a lifesaver from the bullpen, allowing only one run in 3.2 frames, notching four Ks.
In the bottom half, Wallis singled with one out and Will Kraemer added a base hit of his own, bringing Captain Jake Lambdin to the plate. Lambdin launched a 1-0 pitch down the left field line for a double to score Wallis and put the tying run at third in Kraemer, before Stockman’s double to left and a Czech error scored everyone, Tucker included, and gave Great Britain the 9-7 lead.
Czechia would mount a comeback attempt in the seventh, with a pair of singles from pinch hitter Jakub Winkler and Pokorný to start the inning, followed by a well-executed bunt by Benjamin Morgan to move both into scoring position, but Colletti struck out Vlach before inducing Klacl to fly out to centre, and Great Britain’s U23s mobbed the field in celebration.
The Gold Medal is Great Britain’s first since the 1938 Amateur World Series, the first edition of what would become the Baseball World Cup, in which Great Britain defeated the United States four games to one to become World Champions. Both teams qualified for the 2026 Under-23 World Cup in Nicaragua, becoming the first teams to make the list. It is the second consecutive appearance for Great Britain and second overall for Czech Baseball (also appearaing in 2020).
Jackson Wallis of Great Britain took home the Championship MVP trophy, with three hits in three at bats, the two-run home run amongst them, and three runs batted in. Stockman and Allen joined him with multiple hits. Pokorný led the way for the Czechs with three hits, while Šindelka, Pospíšil, and Prokop all had two safeties. Šindelka led the tournament in average (.643) and on-base percentage (.737); was second in slugging percentage (.929, tied), walks (5), and stolen bases (3, tied); and was tied for third in total bases (13) and RBI (8).
Netherlands – Italy
The Bronze Medal match took place between the Netherlands and Italy. The Netherlands struck first with single runs in the first two innings. An RBI-single from Sam Kuijper scored the ever-present Gedionne Marlin in the first, while a single and a swipe from Raydley Legito, plus a hit from Jesse Velders and a balk led to the second run.
Italy answered back with two runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth. Singles from the Texas Rangers’ Williams Wong and Alex Giovanardi levelled things up. The fifth inning brought another run in each for both sides with a home run to deep centre right for Raphael Smeenk and a RBI-single from Italy’s Jhorjan Guevara.
The sixth inning was the decider for the Dutch side as it final broke out for a whopping six runs to take a convincing lead in an otherwise evenly matched game. RBIs from Luca Van Gorkum and Jair Van Borkulo set up Legito for a big two-run triple and Velders for a run-scoring double. While Italy did go out with a bang, scoring its final run on a huge home run from Giovanardi to center, the Dutch side clinched the medal as the game ended 9-4.
Smeenk, Kuijper, and Legito each had three hits for the victors, while Marlin added two safeties and a a free pass of his own. Marlin led the U23 Baseball Euros in hits (13), runs (9), RBI (10), doubles (3, tied), and total bases (19). He was second in average (.619) and on-base percentage (.667), third in OPS (1.572), and fourth in slugging (.905). Smeenk led the tournament in home runs (3) and slugging percentage (1.000), and was second in hits (10), OPS (1.583), and RBI (9).
Giovenardi went 3-for-3 for Italy, while Guevára also had multiple hits. Newman University’s Gio de Graauw started and went two scoreless, while Nkosi Didder earned the win in relief with 2.1 innings of relief, totalling three strikeouts and only one run allowed.
Austria – France
In the battle for fifth place as the day opened, Austria started brightly, as Jonas Kreska knocked a one-out double and Julian Faulhaber singled him home. France, however, immediately answered, with the first two runners reaching. Esteban Briones plated one on a single, and a double play scored another. An inning later, the first four French hitters hit safely, starting with a single from Dorian Bouniol, with Baptiste Blancot following with a two-bagger. Tyrique Lambert singled home Bouniol, and Miguel Lopez delivered a one-base knock to score Blancot. After a pitching change, and still with no outs, Kylian Bamberger doubled, but reliever Caleb Topper induced two quick outs to end the threat.
Another big hit from Faulhaber scored Dan Kawanishi in the third, with the latter drawing a walk to lead off the frame and stealing second. Austria’s first baseman then stroked a double to center to make the score 4-2 in France’s favor.
It would remain as such until the bottom of the fourth, when Lambert, López, and Bamberger hit consecutive one-out singles to score Lambert. A fielder’s choice saw López come around, making the advantage 6-2. Each team struck again, with Tobias Werner going yard for Austria in the sixth, and Mattéo Pierre poking a double for France in the bottom half of the frame. The final run came from a Kawanishi triple and a single from Elias Kreska, but 7-4 was as close as Austria could make it.
Lambert was a perfect 3-for-3 for Les Bleus, while López and Bamberger each collected a pair of knocks. Faulhaber had the only two-hit day for Austria, though Kawanishi reached in all three plate appearances and stole two bases from the nine-hole. Eight pitchers toed the rubber for Austria, which walked only one, but gave up 13 hits. Kenny Esposito earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief.
Germany – Israel
Germany defeated Israel 8-2 after two big middle innings. The fourth and fifth inning saw them bring in seven of their eight runs after a dinger from Elias Huber, his second of the tournament, RBI-singles from Simon Bäumer and Eric Kunze, a two-run knock from Darrion Richards, and another two runs on errors. Jonathan Schäffer worked a complete game, whiffing six in seven innings as he worked around five hits and three walks. Six pitchers took the bump for Israel.
Paul Wittmann led both teams with two hits, while Jake Arnow finished the tournament for Israel by hitting in all five games, finishing with a .412 average and .941 OPS. Huber slashed .333/.474/.800 over five games, while Köhler did his part with a .333/.375/.733 batting line.
Final Standings
- Great Britain (4-1)
- Czechia (4-1)
- Netherlands (4-1)
- Italy (1-4)
- France (3-2)
- Austria (2-3)
- Germany (2-3)
- Israel (0-5)
Catch up on the action from: Day 1 [link], Day 2 [link], Day 3 [link], Day 4 [link]. Box scores can be found here [link].