Britain beats Belgium in pre-EC exhibition game

The Great Britain Senior Team faced off with the Belgian National Team on Wednesday, and beat them 9-3 in a practice exhibition game. The scrimmage was scheduled long in advance to provide GB and Belgium with an opportunity to face high-level pitching and hitting ahead of the European Championships, which kick off on Friday 23 July.

Catcher Mitch Evans during Batting Practice

GB pitched its entire bullpen (less the late-arriving Stephen Spragg), and the nine pitchers each worked three outs using 18 pitches or less. Everyone threw more strikes than balls, and Belgium tallied only 7 hits on the day. Two of the runs were unearned following GB defensive miscues.

The GB hitters had a field day, racking up 18 hits with many solid line drives up the middle. The meat of the Britain batting order each had a multiple hit day:

Rich Klijn: 3-for-4
Matt McGraw: 3-for-4
Evan Romanchuk: 3-for-5 with a double
Mitch Evans: 3-for-5
Sam Wiley: 3-for-5 with a triple
Sam Whitehead: 3-for-4 with a Sac Fly

It was a great outing for GB, and although the Belgian pitching was not of the calibre of the teams they’ll be facing in the EC, it was a hard-fought game. GB General Manager Jason Greenberg said, “We’re grateful to the Tübingen Hawks for hosting this game at their beautiful field, and to Team Belgium for travelling to do battle in the scorching afternoon sun.”

GB opens the Euros with a game versus Croatia on Friday 23 July at 10.30am. The game is not televised, but Britain hopes to tweet from the grandstand and dugout: @GB_Baseball.