2018 European Championship Playoff

The 2018 European Championship Playoff was a best-of-three playoff between the two 2017 B-Level European Championship winners to determine which team would play in the 2019 European Championship. The affair was one-sided. In game 1,  Austria beat  Lithuania, 10-0. LF Richard Alzinger hit a first-inning grand slam off Marius Balandis and Christian Tomsich allows one hit (to CF Edvardas Matusevičius) and two walks in 7 shutout innings, fanning nine. Game 2 was just as lopsided - Eimantas Zickus does not retire any of five batters before Matusevičius takes over in what will be a 25-3 rout, with 8 Lithuanian errors. Ryan Rupp got the win. Among the numerous offensive stars were 1B Joachim Frick (4 R, a triple shy of the cycle), RF Ferdinand Obed (3 R, 3 RBI) and LF Alzinger (5 RBI, HR). For Lithuania, Matusevičius homered and C Kestas Vilimas doubled twice and scored two in the five-inning mercy rule game. Austria won a spot in the European Championship for the first time since 2007 while Lithuania still had not made it that far.