Home British baseball Great Britain compete in European Championship qualifier this week

Great Britain compete in European Championship qualifier this week

by Matt Smith

GbHlSqTeam GB are in Israel this week as they aim to qualify for the 2012 European Championships.

Starting on Tuesday, Great Britain will face Lithuania, Israel and Georgia before the final is played on Friday.  The team head into the qualifier as favourites to progress, but Sam Dempster’s team will know better than to treat any opponent lightly.

The group in Israel is one of five taking place this week, with the winner of each group qualifying for the 2012 Euros that are scheduled to take place in the Netherlands next September.

Great Britain fell into the qualifying stage due to a disappointing 2010 European Championship showing. 

They were knocked out in the first round with a 2-3 record despite getting a win in their first game against Croatia.  A 4-3 loss against Greece condemned the team to an early exit, one all the more frustrating due to the team’s positive showing at the 2009 World Cup.

Sam Dempster has taken on the roll of manager since last year’s event and he will see this qualifier as a way to get the team heading in the right direction once again.

Great Britain’s schedule is as follows:

Tuesday 26 – Lithuania (15.30 local time, 13.30 BST)

Wednesday 27 – Israel (19.30 local time, 17.30 BST)

Thursday 28 – Georgia (15.30 local time, 13.30 BST)

The Confederation of European Baseball’s website isn’t the most up-to-date or visually impressive, but I’ve always liked their no-frills tournament coverage.  The section for Great Britain’s qualifying group will have all the box scores and play-by-play details and, hopefully, the ‘Live’ option at the top of the page will live updates of the games in progress.

Good luck to the team.

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1 comment

Matt Smith July 26, 2011 - 5:38 pm

Great Britain started off their qualifying group with a 14-3/7 inning victory over Lithuania.

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