TicketsSept. 12, 2009
This is the seventh in a series of installments from UC head baseball coach Brian Cleary as he travels overseas to coach the British National Baseball Team at the 2009 Baseball World Cup.
What a wild day here. The long and short of it is that we qualified to move on to the second round while watching the Germany/Venezuela game (in Regensburg, Germany) on TV in the hotel lobby. The tiebreakers are complicated and have to do with runs allowed.
We had a couple of bad breaks in some of the other morning games today where things did not go the way we needed and so heading into our game with Croatia, we not only needed a win, but figured we needed to shut them out. Some of the strategy in the games here is very different, because every run allowed has an impact regardless if it affects the game that you are playing.
We had a shutout going in the 8th inning but then gave up a run and won 4-1, but left the field thinking that we would not survive the tiebreakers. By the time we got to the hotel, our only hope was for Germany to allow 11 or more runs against Venezuela. Venezuela had a five-run 8th inning, giving them more than 11 runs and as the 11th run crossed the plate, our players celebrated wildly in the hotel lobby. The day was full of ups and downs and when it looked fairly certain that we would not move on, we did.
Next step is a 7:30 A.M. charter flight from Zagreb, Croatia, to Amsterdam, Holland. We play Cuba tomorrow night. Certainly, we will be less talented than the other teams we will face this round. I have to confirm, but I believe that the only European teams to qualify for second round play (outside of Holland and Italy, two traditional powers in Europe) are Great Britain and Spain. Cuba is currently ranked first in the world. It should be fun.