2019 CEB Cup

The 2019 CEB Cup was held in early June in Brno in the Czech Republic.

Games

June 5

• BioTexCom KNTU 7, Montigny Cougars 3. Ukraine starts off well as Sergii Shtapura gets the win and Dmytro Limarenko a 3-inning save. They get three hits apiece from 3B Denys Brechko, RF Illia Velikyi and SS Roman Boyko to beat Jonathan Mottay.
• Minsk 11, Zurich Challengers 8. Yauheni Kurhun wins the opener for Minsk with plenty of offensive support from 2B Yauheni Karalevitch (3 for 4, 2 BB, HR, 2 SB, 2 R, 3 RBI). #9 hitter/LF Andrei Tatarevitch adds three runs. Stefan Haltmeier took the loss.
• Heidenheim Heideköpfe 12, Vindija Varazdin 0. Luke Sommer allows one hit (to Jose Diaz) in six and Simon Liedtke closes it out with a hitless 7th in a mercy rule win. Sven Vojnovic took the loss. Leading the way for Germany were SS Philip Schulz (3 R despite no AB; 2 BB, 2 HB), CF Gary Owens (3 RBI) and RF/2B Aaron Dunsmore (3 H).
• Draci Brno 2, Astros Valencia 1. The hosts squeaked out an opening win. They fell behind in the 3rd when SS Edison Valerio homered off Radim Chroust but Chroust, Peter Moylan (W), John Hussey and Martin Schneider (Sv) allowed no more runs. Yulman Ribeiro contained Brno in a complete game, except for the 5th, which proved his undoing. 3B Martin Červinka singled; after an out, he stole second. LF Filip Moštěk walked and the runners pulled off a double steal. Then the Hajtmar brothers delivered as RF Adam Hajtmar hit a sacrifice fly and 2B Jakub Hajtmar doubled in the winner.

June 6

• Zurich Challengers 5, Vindija Varadzin 3. Jose Diaz pitches a ten-inning complete game, fanning 16 and walking none on 155 pitches but loses to Tobias Siegrist and Zurich. Siegrist adds two hits, a run and a RBI.
• Heidenheim Heideköpfe 20, Minsk 0. Heidenheim has another mercy rule shutout win, this time in five innings. Logan Grigsby fans 10 and allows one hit, to 2B Yauheni Karalevitch, while counterpart Artsiom Rudzinski allows all seven batters he faces to reach. CF Gary Owens (4 RBI), SS Philip Schulz, 3B Ludwig Glaser and 2B Simon Liedtke each score three.
• Montigny Cougars 6, Astros Valencia 1. Yorfrank Lopez scatters ten hits in a 135-pitch complete game win over Elvis Gomez and Valencia. 1B Dylan Mayeux (whose sister Melissa Mayeux had just gotten a scholarship to LSU for softball) hits a 3-run homer and drives in four overall. C Blake Ochoa drives in 2B Emmanuel Febles with the only Spanish run.
• Draci Brno 10, BioTexCom KNTU 0. Ondřej Furko fans 13 in 7 shutout innings (4 H, 0 BB) while Ukraine's Andrii Boiko retires none of six batters he faces. Brno's offensive fireworks include big days from 2B Jakub Hajtmar (4 H, 3 R), 1B Zach Wilson (3 R, 3 RBI), C Petr Čech (3 H, 3 RBI) and RF Adam Hajtmar (3 R, 3 H).

June 7

• Heidenheim Heideköpfe 13, Zurich Challengers 0. For the third day in a row, Heidenheim has a shutout rout. SS Philip Schulz again shines (3 H, 3 R, 3 RBI) and 1B/C Samuel Tsopatalo scores three as well. This time, Marcel Giraud and Patrick Seyfried are the pitching stars, combining on a three-hitter. LF Tatsuhiko Watanabe goes 2 for 2 while his teammates are 1 for 22. Long-time Italian league pitcher Sandy Patrone takes the loss for the Swiss entry.
• Astros Valencia 4, BioTexCom KNTU 0. Spain gets its first win with a balanced offense and some excellent pitching from Lowuin Sacramento (2 H, 0 BB, 8 K in 8 IP). Maksym Lisnytskyi takes the loss despite a solid day (2 R in 7 IP).
• Minsk 15, Vindija Varadzin 0. Belarus blows out Croatia as Kiryl Kazlouski allows only one hit in six; for the second time in three days, 1B Jose Diaz has the only hit for Varadzin. Borna Strelec takes the loss. CF Artsiom Rudzinski and 3B Yauheni Kurhun each have 3 runs and 2 RBI.
• Draci Brno 6, Montigny Cougars 5. For the second time in three games, the hosts pull out a one-run win, getting 5 runs in the 4th. Jan Vašourek gets the win over Clement Esteban, while Martin Schneider notches a save. C Petr Čech scores twice while 2B Jakub Hajtmar and CF Arnošt Dubový each drive in two. CF Rafael Jimenez is 3 for 5 with a run and two RBI to lead Montigny.

June 8

• BioTexCom KNTU 12, Vindija Varadzin 3. Kostiantyn Chukhas not only fans 10 in a win over Nick Schreder, but also scores 3 runs. C Oleksandr Sotiriadi and LF Ievgenii Poliakov each have 3 hits.
• Astros Valencia 7, Zurich Challengers 3. Spain chases Stefan Haltmeier with 6 runs in under 2 innings while Livian Delgado gets the win and Luis Galicia the save. A balanced offense includes 3 walks, a run, double and two RBI from SS Edison Valerio.
• Heidenheim Heideköpfe 5, Montigny Cougars 0. Germany moves to the finals with their fourth straight shutout. Mike Bolsenbroek and Justin Erasmus fan 11 and scatter 8 hits in today's gem. SS Philip Schulz keeps it up with 3 hits, and RF Aaron Dunsmore also has 3 while CF Gary Owens has two runs and two RBI. Jonathan Mottay takes the loss despite only one run in five innings.
• Draci Brno 15, Minsk 1. The hosts cruise to the other finals spot as RF Adam Hajtmar drives in four from the 9 slot, C Petr Čech scores three times and CF Arnošt Dubový adds three hits. John Hussey gets the win against Ilia Sladzinski.

June 9

• Zurich Challengers 16, Vindija Varadzin 1. Croatia gets knocked from the CEB Cup with another blowout loss. Sandy Patrone holds them to three hits and one unearned run in five innings in a mercy rule rout. Among Switzerland's hitting stars are CF Noah Williamson (3 R), C Tanner Donnels (3 R, 3 RBI), 2B James Sanders (3 R, 4 RBI) and 1B Carlos Nepomuceno (3 RBI). Anton Lekic takes the loss.
• Montigny Cougars 3, Minsk 2. The 3rd/4th place game is a close affair. Neither Yorfrank Lopez (Montigny) or Yauheni Kurhun (Minsk) allows a run through ten innings even with the IBAF Extra Innings Rule coming into play in the 10th; Lopez didn't even give up a hit through ten. 1B Dylan Mayeux's sacrifice fly off Kiryl Kazlouski scores LF Guillame Raphet with the winner in the 12th; each team has a runner thrown out at home to end their part of the 12th. Lopez allows only two hits, two walks and two unearned runs in 12 innings, striking out 17.
• Heidenheim Heideköpfe 3, Draci Brno 0. 44-year-old Enorbel Márquez shows he can still dominate, allowing only three hits and one walk in eight innings while striking out eight to down the hosts as Germany won a second spot in the 2020 European Champions Cup. Justin Erasmus closed it out with a 1-2-3 9th as Heidenheim had five shutouts in five games. Márquez was matched evenly for seven innings by another veteran, 42-year-old Peter Moylan, a long-time major leaguer. Moylan was replaced in the 8th by Radim Chroust, who allowed all three batters to reach. Martin Schneider relieved and gave up a two-run single to CF Gary Owens. C Simon Gühring reached base three of four appearances for Heidenheim. C Petr Čech had two of the three hits for Brno. Márquez would win tournament MVP for his gem.

Championship Game

Heidenheim Heideköpfe 3-0 Draci Brno

Final Standings

• 1. Heidenheim Heideköpfe (Germany)
• 2. Draci Brno (Czech Republic)
• 3. Montigny Cougars (France)
• 4. Minsk (Belarus)
• 5. Astros Valencia (Spain)
• 6. BioTexCom KNTU (Ukraine)
• 7. Zurich Challengers (Switzerland)
• 8. Vindija Varadzin (Croatia)