Igor Kovalenko

Igor Kovalenko was the first player to man second base for the Ukrainian national team in a European Championship. Hitting 5th in their opener of the 1995 European Championship, he went 0 for 3 with a strikeout against the Dutch national team's Erik Lommerde and Rob Cordemans and had one putout, one assist and one error. The next game, he went 3 for 4 with the team's first homer though, off either Cedric Fournier or Jean David Cazanobes of France. He finished the event at .333/.385/.667 with two homers, six runs and ten RBI in seven games. He led Ukraine in hits (two ahead of Vitally Romanov), runs (two ahead of Iouri Tourchenko), doubles (2, tied with Oleg Broussov), homers (their only two) and RBI (a whopping 7 ahead of Oleg Venger). He tied for 6th in the Euros in dingers that year (his second came off Tine Zaletel). He fielded only .842 at second with six errors, four more than any other second baseman; the newest second sacker in fielding was Brane Galic at .900.

Source: 1995 European Championship, Harry Wedemeijer's site