2001 European Championships

The 2001 European Championship was played from July 28 through August 5 in Bonn, Cologne and Solingen. It was the first time since the late 1960s that Germany hosted the European Championship - and the first time since the late 1960s that Italy did not make the finals. Instead, Russia won its only Medal (through 2008) by stunning Italy in the semifinals before falling to the Netherlands. It was the 17th Gold Medal by the Netherlands.

Semifinals[edit]

Netherlands 5, France 1. Samuel Meurant throws 137 pitches in a valiant effort to try to stop the Netherlands, but a 2-run homer by Jurjan Koenen and 5-hit pitching from Eelco Jansen and Dave Draijer prove too much.
Russia 2, Italy 0. Jim Davenport's team suffered a major upset when they could muster no offense against Rinat Makhmoutov and Oleg Korneev, who combined on a 3-hitter.

Finals[edit]

Netherlands 4, Russia 0. Russia's surprising ride comes to an end as Rob Cordemans and Patrick De Lange team up on a 2-hitter, striking out 11. CF Remy Maduro goes 3 for 4 for the Netherlands.
Italy 7, France 0. Italy salvages pride with a Bronze Medal as France is held to 3 hits, keeping to the low-scoring theme of the final rounds.

Awards[edit]

MVP: Rinat Makhmoutov, Russia
Outstanding Defensive Player: Alexander Nizov, Russia 2B

Team Summaries[edit]

Belgium was 4-3 despite being outhit .291-.226. They had an All-Star in pitcher Michael Lays (1-0, Sv, 4 H, 0 R in 10 IP). They had the second lowest team average but were 6th in ERA (4.57).
Croatia was 2-6, having been outscored 72-31. They scored the fewest runs and allowed the most.
Czech Republic was 5-3 and had a 62-36 edge in runs. They were second to only the Netherlands in runs and were the team stealing the most, swiping 24 bases in 30 tries. Pavel Chadim led the tourney with 11 RBI despite slugging .250.
Spain finished 3-5 and was pretty well-matched with their opponents (48 runs, 55 allowed).
France went 5-3 and finished 4th in the competition. They had a 3.41 ERA, 4th in the tournament. Sylvain Hervieux managed to lead the event with 10 runs despite hitting .214 with a .353 OBP. Patrice Briones led all pitchers with two saves.
United Kingdom can blame their 3-4 finish on pitching and defense. They had a 7.32 ERA, third-worst and fielded .920, second-worst. Their .282 team average tied for 5th but they were the only team that failed to hit a home run.
Germany was 2-4 and had a similar story to Britain. They hit .298, second to the Netherlands, but had a 7.14 ERA.
Italy was 7-1 but their loss was a crucial one. They led in fielding (.979) and home runs (8) and were second in ERA (1.92) but their defeat by Russia helped give them their worst European Championship finish in 34 years. Michael Marchesano was 2-0 and allowed no earned runs in 12 innings. Among the fine hitters were 3B David Sheldon (.520/.625/.800, 8 R, 9 RBI), All-Star 1B Jairo Ramos Gizzi (.381/.435/.571), All-Star SS Seth La Fera (.357/.438/.536) and All-Star OF Roberto De Franceschi (.345/.441/.483, 9 R).
Netherlands led in average (.300), runs (64) and ERA {1.29) in an all-around dominant turn. All-Stars were OF Remy Maduro (.433/.528/.700, 8 R, 8 RBI), DH Marcel Joost (.421/.500/.474) and 3B Jurjan Koenen (.414/.514/.586). Less productive was Ralph Milliard, the only former major leaguer in the event; he hit .200/.344/.240, though he did lead with 4 steals. Only one pitcher had an ERA over 2. Among the fine hurlers were Patrick De Lange (1-0, Sv, 0 R, 1 H in 6 1/3 IP), Jeroen Deken (1-0, 0 R, 2 H in 6 IP), Rob Cordemans (1-0, 1.20), Dave Draijer (Sv, 1.23), Eelco Jansen (2-0, 1.29), Patrick Beljaards (1-0, 1.50) and Orlando Stewart (1-0, 1.54). They were 7-1.
Russia was 5-3 and won their first Medal ever after having upset Italy in the semifinals. They had three All-Stars: C Andrey Selivanov (.429/.600/.476), 2B Alexander Nizov (.323/.447/.581, 4 SB, 7 R, 1.000 fielding percentage) and P Rinat Makhmoutov (1-0, 3.52). Makhmoutov was named MVP based on his win over Italy, while Nizov, a former Angels farmhand, was named the Outstanding Defensive Player.
Sweden finished last at 0-7. They hit .212, the lowest, and had the highest ERA (8.79).
Ukraine was 2-5, not as good as their Russian neighbors. They were outscored 62-40, had the second-worst ERA (7.80) and the worst fielding percentage (.916, 23 errors). No hurler had an ERA under 4.