EuropaCup 2004: a good test and a great time The Richmond Baseball Club finished a week of strain, pain and pleasure by competing in it`s first ever Confédération Européene de Baseball tournament in the EuropaCup 2004 in Weiner Neustadt Austria 14-19 June 2004. The competition had top clubs from Russia, Austria, Greece, Lithuania, the Ukraine, Switzerland, Poland and Great Britain. The Russian club from MGFSO Moscow who were comprised of many of the Russian national team players who won the tournament after dropping their opening game against the host Wr. Neustadt Diving Ducks 8-7. They drove 54 hours in a bus from Moscow the day before the game, having to go through Germany instead of the shorter route through the Czech Republic because of visa issues. They finished the tournament by getting revenge on the Ducks with a convincing 12-1 victory in the final.
The Ukrainian team Atma placed third with a strong squad that included some very talented Cuban players at it`s core. The Flames highlight of the tournament was beating the Ukrainian team in 10 innings after Steve Jarnet tied the game with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning with a clutch 350 ft (or more) two run homerun to straight away right field that easily cleared the 2 meter high fence and sent the Richmond bench into a frenzy. `We were just happy to be here, it was very very tough getting a squad for a mid-week tournament for 5 days but we did it and that was the only win we really needed to be happy.` said Vinnie Connare after Richmond ended the tournament with a 16-0 easy win in their final game over the Greek side Aris Thessaloniki. Richmond started out strong in their first game scoring 4 times and having a 4-0 lead. They were still ahead 5-3 in the fifth but they eventually lost the lead in the sixth inning when Bern scored three runs to overtake Richmond 6-5. It stayed that way untill in the top of the ninth the Swiss added four more runs to end the game at 10-5. A disappointing opening game. The second game started out the opposite of the first when Richmond starter Steve Jarnet struggled. Richmond fell behind early 8-0 to Vanagai (Lithuania). The game turned into a hitting frenzy but Richmond`s late surge fell short and they were too far behind to catch up, they dropped the second game 24-20. The Flames third game was a real test. They faced the Ukrainian team who was leading the group and if they had any chance of placing anywhere but last place they had to win this one. As I previously mentioned the highlight of the tournament saved the game for the Richmond side when an adrenalin filled blast tied the game at 13-13. Steve Jarnet won this game and redeemed himself not on the mound but with the bat to earn clearly the play of the tournament. Richmond won the game when George Naumczik moved to second on a balk, third on a ground out and finally scored when the Ukrainian pitcher stopped in the middle of his windup. The balk allowed George to score and Richmond to knock the Ukrainians off the top of the group.
The fourth game started out even weirder. George Naumczik was scheduled to pitch and just before the game during batting practice he was hit by a backswing of a bat and had to go to the hospital for stitches to his left eye. This caused an unsuspecting starter and Richmond fell again behind quickly in the game against Poland. George returned to pitch but Richmond again had too big a hill to climb. They almost tied the game with runners on second and third with two out in the ninth. Unfortunately for them the Polish pitcher struck the batter out to end the game at 19-17 and another disappointing loss. Aeden McQueary-Ennis was scheduled to pitch the final game and unfortunately the Greeks had to face him. Aeden had a perfect game until in the final inning he had two strikes on the batter and
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