On Wednesday, the Kingdom of the Netherlands captured the Prague Baseball Week championship with a 3-2 victory over Chinese Taipei in its first appearance at Prague Baseball Week. It was a rematch of the teams’ opening-day meeting, which Chinese Taipei won 10-4, and their fourth matchup in just over a week after they met twice at Honkbalweek.
Chinese Taipei reached the championship game undefeated, outscoring its opponents 27-8. It had trailed for only a half-inning throughout the tournament.
The Netherlands rebounded from its opening-night loss with a 15-4, seven-inning victory over host Czechia. Looking to clinch a berth in the final on Tuesday, the Dutch were tied with Germany in the ninth inning after Germany erased a three-run deficit with a game-tying home run in the seventh. Sem Kuijper then delivered the go-ahead two-run single in the top of the ninth, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands held on for a 7-5 victory to secure its place in the championship game.
Chinese Taipei jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the final on RBI singles by Chen-Yu Yang and Yu-Wei Kao. The Netherlands answered in the third when Denzel Richardson hit an RBI double before Dwayne Kemp tied the game with an RBI single in the fifth.
Dutch starter Lars Huijer kept his team in the game, allowing two runs over 5 1/3 innings. After surrendering two first-inning runs, he allowed just one hit the rest of his outing. The game remained tied at 2 entering the eighth inning.
Richardson led off the eighth with a solo home run to left-center field, giving the Netherlands a 3-2 lead. Shairon Martis pitched the final two innings, including a perfect ninth, to secure the victory and the championship in the Netherlands’ first Prague Baseball Week appearance.
Richardson led the Dutch offense throughout the tournament, going 7-for-15 with a home run and three doubles and came through in the biggest moments for the Dutch.
In the bronze medal game, Czechia defeated Germany 15-5 in seven innings in a rematch of last year’s championship game. The Czechs built an 11-0 lead through three innings, highlighted by Ryan Johnson’s three-run home run that made it 6-0 in the second inning. Šimon Blažek later added a home run to extend the lead to 7-0.
Leading 14-5 in the seventh inning, Czechia ended the game on the run rule when Max Prejda hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the 15th run, securing the bronze medal.
In Pool B, Belgium defeated Slovakia 11-1 in seven innings in the championship game. Slovakian starter Maxim Samson held Belgium scoreless through five innings before the Belgians broke through with two runs in the sixth and erupted for nine more in the seventh to end the game via the run rule.
Belgium two-way standout Drew Janssen pitched five innings, allowing one run while striking out nine. He also went 2-for-3 with an RBI at the plate.
In the Pool B third-place game, Croatia defeated Switzerland 8-6.
Photo: Kingdom of the Netherlands celebrate first ever Prague Baseball Week title. Photo credit to Baseball Czechia
