Baseball Euros 2025 Day 7: Netherlands, Italy to Final

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Italy took an early lead against Czech Republic and held off multiple rallies by the latter to advance to the title game of the 2025 European Baseball Championship in the afternoon, while the Netherlands thrilled a home crowd with multiple home runs in a defeat of Spain in the nightcap. Elsewhere, Austria and Switzerland clinched their best-ever finishes in a Baseball Euros, and Germany and Great Britain set up a compelling match-up for fifth place.

The day started with Switzerland dismantling France 11-3 in the eleventh-place game. It marked a one-place improvement over its previous best performance, set last year in its debut. Meanwhile, France finished a tough tournament with its second-worst result.

Sweden then took a 1-0 lead over Austria in the fourth, tying the ballgame at two in the seventh after the Central European nation scored scored a pair in the sixth. However, Moritz Scheicher launched a rocket that resulted in a three-run homer and Austria took the ninth-place contest, 6-2. It is the best-ever finish for Austria, which has now appeared in the last four European Baseball Championships. Sweden revealed a series of impressive young pitchers and finishes tenth, its third-best finish in the last six tourneys.

Germany and Israel had a rollercoaster game in which the winner moved to the fifth-place bout. At one bout, Israel had a 6-2 lead, but Germany fought back to take the lead in the bottom of the seventh, 9-8. Israel drew even in the top of the ninth before the Deutschlanders used a little small ball to walk off.

A 1-1 game between Italy and Czech Republic gave hope to the Central European nation, playing in its first-ever European Championship semi-final, with a Martin Červenka dinger evening the score. However, the Italians pulled away in the middle innings and then held off Czech rallies in the bottom of the seven and ninth to win 8-5 and advance to the Baseball Euros’ championship game. Giaconino Lasaracina hit another four-bagger in the game, his tournament-leading fifth, to aid the Azurri.

Great Britain joined Germany in the fifth-place contest with a narrow victory over upstarts Croatia, 3-2. Kruno Gojković hit a big fly for Hrvatska, but British pitchers fanned 13 in the win.

Finally, in the nightcap, Spain scored a run in the first and the Dutch lost starter Tom de Blok to an injury, but Kevin Kelly came out of the pen for a jaw-dropping 16 strikeouts in 8.1 innings and Jonathan Schoop, Ray-Patrick Didder, and Jiandido Tromp went yard in a 6-1 victory, setting up a rematch of the last time the Euros were played in Rotterdam, with Italy claiming its last victory at the European Baseball Championship in that 2012 game. The only more recent matchup was a 2019 victory for the Oranje. It will be the 27th time the two nations have contested the continental crown, with the Netherlands holding an 17-9 advantage.

For more about the European Baseball Championship and our coverage of the tournament, see the following articles:
Overview [link].
Day 1 [link].
Day 2 [link].
Day 3 [link].
Day 6 [link].

For box scores and the full schedule, see the WBSC tournament page [link].