2022 European Championship Qualifiers

There were 13 teams competing in the 2022 European Championship Qualifiers, aiming for two spots in the 2023 European Championship. Trying to defend their place in the European Championship were  France and  Slovakia, the bottom two finishers in the 2021 European Championship. It was the first time France would have to play in a qualifier since 1986! The three pool champions were slated to meet in a playoff later to determine which two got in. When the pools were announced for the '23 Euros, though, all three were allowed in as Russia's suspension continued.

Competing in Belgrade were Slovakia,  Hungary,  Norway,  Poland and  Serbia.

Competing in Utena were  Finland,  Lithuania,  Romania and  Switzerland

Competing in Blagoevgrad were France,  Bulgaria,  Republic of Ireland and  Slovenia.

Left out of the qualifiers was Belarus, penalized for its support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Belgrade

July 12

•  Slovakia 17,  Norway 4. Slovakia's defense of its Euros spot began with an easy match. 1B Michal Puškár hits a grand slam, falls a triple shy of a cycle and drives in seven while C Mário Gottschall has four runs and four RBI. Former Reds farmhand Jakub Ižold strikes out 11 and allows two hits and one run in six to beat American import Lars Liguori. Gunnar Henriksen homers for Norway.
•  Serbia 18,  Poland 5. CF Danilo Cvijovic drives in five as the hosts breeze in their opener; Christian Bokic gets the win over Patryk Sawicki. 1B Franciszek Dudek scores twice for Poland.

July 13

•  Norway 14,  Poland 6. Aidan Brodsjo saves Emil Fjellvang's win against Adrian Mularczyk. CF Jan Pruszynski scores half of Poland's runs while Norway's offense is led by 3B Charles Conrad (4 H) and RF Gunnar Henriksen (4 RBI).
•  Hungary 8,  Serbia 6. Hungary debuts with a win over the hosts. Mexican native Carlos Rubio homers twice and drives in three. Tibor Bagyinszki saves it for Sean Fekete. Sava Dupor takes the loss, while 3B Ranko Stefanovic drives in three for Serbia.

July 14

•  Slovakia 17,  Poland 2. Slovakia rolls again, while Poland goes to 0-3. SS Matěj Grendža-Donský goes 3 for 3 with a walk, two doubles, three runs and five RBI to lead a powerful offense while the beneficiary on the mound is Juraj Bartók. Szymon Dwojakowski is the losing pitcher. CF Jan Pruszynski draws three walks for Poland.
•  Norway 11,  Hungary 10. Finland beats Hungary in an extra-inning thriller. SS/P Steffen Torgensen strikes out 13 in 6 1/3 innings of relief for the win and homers twice, scoring four and driving in five. For Hungary, C Carlos Rubio draws four walks and scores three times while Alexander Ogg gets the decision.

July 15

•  Hungary 14,  Poland 2. Hungary roughs up seven Polish pitchers (Adrian Mularczyk getting the decision) as Poland finishes winless. 1B Sean Fekete has three hits and five RBI while Máté Szilágyi goes the distance for the victory.
•  Slovakia 10,  Serbia 9. Slovakia gets their first challenge, edging Serbia in 11 innings. Jakub Ižold gets the win by working two shutout innings to end it, beating Christian Bokich. C Mário Gottschall has three hits and drives in four for Slovakia; for Serbia, 3B/SS Ranko Stefanovic is 3 for 6 with two doubles, two runs and two RBI.

July 16

•  Hungary 9,  Slovakia 8. Slovakia suffers its first loss. 3B/P Zsolt Győri has 3 hits for Hungary while C Carlos Rubio drives in three. Bálint Matolcsi gets the win over Adam Zacko. C Matej Rudohradský is 3 for 3 with two walks, two doubles, a run and two RBI in a losing effort.
•  Norway 7,  Serbia 2. SS Steffen Torersen scores three times while CF Mads Eldevik drives in three. Lars Liguori fans 15 in a complete game to beat Dusan Nakic. LF/CF Danilo Cvijovic has half of Serbia's four hits. Norway makes it a three-way tie for first atop the pool at 3-1 but lose the tie-breaker.

July 17

•  Hungary 8,  Slovakia 1. Hungary won as American import Sean Fekete strikes out 14 in a complete game win, beating former Reds farmhand Jakub Ižold. SS Bálint Piros goes 4 for 5 with 3 runs as Hungary jumps to a 5-0 lead in the first and doesn't look back. DH Michal Puškár goes 3 for 4 in a losing effort.

Blagoevgrad

July 13

•  France 19,  Slovenia 0. As expected, France's hopes for a return to the Euros start with a romp. They score 15 runs in the third in a 4 1/2 inning mercy rule win. RF Mael Zan homers twice and has four runs and four RBI, while CF Léo Jiminian and 3B Louis Brainville each also plate four. Ismael Pontiac gets the win, Matic Lesnjak the loss.
•  Bulgaria 3,  Republic of Ireland 2. In the first extra-inning game of these qualifiers, Evgenii Chernozemsky goes all ten innings, throwing 157 pitches and allowing only two unearned runs. He fans ten but walks eight. Mitchell Hillert throws four shutout innings before Keelan Smithers allows one run over the next five before giving up two in the 10th. CF Nikolay Karashtrankov goes 2 for 3 for Bulgaria, while C Joe Cosgrove drives in both runs for Ireland.

July 14

•  Slovenia 7,  Republic of Ireland 4. Slovenia rebounds from their tough opener to beat Ireland. P/2B/CF Zan Primozic has a busy day, scoring two, driving in two and pitching the first four innings, while Jaka Smolnikar gets the win against Liam Shier. C Joe Cosgrove has three hits to again pace the Irish offense.
•  France 18,  Bulgaria 2. France again only needs five innings for a mercy rule win. CF Léo Jiminian goes 5 for 5 with 4 runs while 2B Pierre-Emmanuel Planes steals four bases. Esteban Prioul is the winning pitcher, while Martin Shopski is the losing pitcher. DH Evgenii Chernozemsky scores one of Bulgaria's run and drives in the other.

July 15

•  France 15,  Republic of Ireland 2. France finishes the round-robin 3-0 while Ireland finishes 0-3. Gédéon Coste gets the win, teaming with Firmin Hassed and Franklin De La Rosa on a two-hitter, while Brendan Scott is the losing hurler. RF José Paula goes 3 for 3 with a walk, double, two runs and three RBI. For Ireland, DH David Gallagher drives in both runs.
•  Bulgaria 13,  Slovenia 11. The battle for the last spot in the finals is a slugfest. SS Dimitar Nassapov (4 SB, 3 R), DH/3B Evgenii Chernozemsky (3 H, 3 R, 3 RBI) and RF Martin Andonov (4 RBI) lead Bulgaria's offense while Teodor Dimitrov gets the win. For Slovenia, the loss goes to Tevž Gantar while DH Zan Primozic drives in four.

July 16

•  France 8,  Bulgaria 1. As expected, France dominates. Mathias Lacombe gets the win over Evgenii Chernozemsky. DH Bastien Dagneau reaches in four of five appearances and drives in a pair while RF José Paula homers. C Georgi Georgiev drives in 3B Petyo Petkov with Bulgaria's lone run.

Utena

July 13

•  Switzerland 11,  Romania 0. Switzerland begins the Lithuanian pool with a solid win as Jonah Schaller and two relievers combine on a one-hitter while RF/1B James Sanders drives in three. Edy Pirvu takes the loss.
•  Lithuania 14,  Finland 1. Lithuania also starts off strong, with 4 RBI from 1B Vytas Valincius while DH Marius Balandis reaches all four times. Veteran Eimantas Žičkus gets the win, teaming with three other hurlers on a two-hitter. Kai Francus is roughed up in the loss, but gets one of Finland's two hits and their lone run.

July 14

•  Switzerland 10,  Finland 9. Finland fares much better, taking the Swiss into extra innings before falling in the 11th. SS Joshua Crouse drives in four for Switzerland, while James Sanders gets the win. P/CF Marko Sipila has three hits and three runs for Finland, while Ville-Herman Saarman takes the loss.
•  Lithuania 18,  Romania 4. The hosts dominate again, chasing Iulian Serban with eight runs and no one retired. 1B Vytas Valincius again drives in four while DH Lukas Sirgėdas. has three runs and three RBI to back the pitching of Lukas Morkunas, who works a complete game. SS George George goes 3 for 4 with a run and two RBI for Romania.

July 15

•  Finland 18,  Romania 5. The two winless teams in the pool face off in their final game and it's a rout for the Finns. RF Andreas Fopp leads the charge, going 4-for-6 with 3 doubles, two runs and four RBI while Mikko Rauhamäki is the victor on the mound. 1B/C Edy Pirvu doubles, homers, scores two and drives in two for Romania. George George is the losing pitcher.
•  Lithuania 15,  Switzerland 14. Both teams had already locked up spots in the finale, so this one was relatively meaningless. 1B Vytas Valincius had two doubles, two walks, three runs and two RBI among many fine Lithuanian hitters while DH/P Thierry Burkhardt homered twice and drove in four but lost to Audrius Beliauskas.

July 16

•  Switzerland 3,  Lithuania 1. After sweeping the round-robin, Lithuania falls in the finale despite edging the Swiss in hits, 5-4. Ryan Byrne saves Jonah Schaller's victory as they combine for 14 K while 3B Thierry Burkhardt has a run and a RBI. Marius Balandis also strikes out 14, but gets the loss. CF Edvardas Matusevičius drives in Matas Sirgedas with Lithuania's only run as the hosts fall.

MVPs

Belgrade

• Hungarian P/1B Sean Fekete was 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA and 26 K in 14 1/3 IP, leading all three qualifiers in strikeouts and tying for the most wins. He hit .429/.435/.714 with ten RBI in five games to tie for second in all the qualifiers in RBI and tied for 4th with two homers.

Blagoevgrad

• French OF Mael Zan was named the MVP of the pool, hitting .615/.688/1.615 with ten runs, nine RBI, four doubles and three homers in four games. He led the pool in homers and runs among other stats.

Utena

• His team may have lost, but Lithuanian 1B Vytas Valincius was named the MVP after batting .412/.524/.824 with ten RBI.