HAARLEM, Netherlands — It took ten innings and a tiebreaker, but Czechia finally outlasted the International Globetrotters 6-5 on Friday at Pim Mulier Stadion — a fittingly scrappy finish to the fifth-place game between the two clubs that spent Honkbalweek Haarlem stuck at the bottom of the standings.
Deadlocked 5-5 after nine, the game moved to the WBSC tiebreaker, and Czechia cashed in. Marek Krejčiřík was placed at second to open the 10th, and after a bunt moved him up, William Escala lined a single through the left side to score him for the lead. The insurance never came — Escala was thrown out trying to stretch it, and Czechia settled for one — but one was enough.
Ondřej Vostatek made sure of it. The right-hander, who had already spun two scoreless innings to get the game to extras, came back out for the 10th with runners on the corners and the tying run 90 feet away. He got a bunt out, a lineout, and a fielder’s choice at third to end it, stranding the tying run and sealing the win.
Czechia had clawed back all night. Matouš Bubeník was the engine — the catcher went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer to right-center in the sixth and finished the tournament hitting .400. Jakub Winkler added a solo shot in the seventh to tie it, and Jan Pospíšil chipped in an RBI single. It was that kind of game for the Czechs: seven hits, five walks, and just enough timely contact to erase deficit after deficit.
For the Globetrotters — the tournament’s barnstorming international all-star side — it was a maddening near-miss to close a 1-5 week. Harry Deliyannis did a bit of everything, reaching three times, scoring three runs, and stealing a base, before taking the loss on the mound in the 10th. Luke Masiuk chipped in two hits and an RBI, and the Trotters out-hit Czechia 10-7 on the day — but stranded runners and three unearned-run rallies of their own weren’t enough. Three Czech errors kept them in it; their own single error, at the worst time, helped end it.