EUROPEAN CLUP OPENS DESPITE POOR FIELD CONDITIONS

The 2009 European Cup got underway in Italy last week, but not without concerns about weather and field conditions. While there were no problems getting one group of six teams going in Nettuno or Anzio, poor field conditions forced a change in format in Matino.


The six-team pool in Nettuno and Anzio are Spain’s Puerto Cruz Marlins, Belgium’s Antwerp Royal Greys, Germany’s Regensburg Legionaere, France’s Rouen Huskies, Holland’s Amsterdam Pirates and host Danesi Nettuno. Rouen won their first three games, including an 8-5 shocker over Dutch champion Amsterdam, to take the early lead in round-robin play.

Things didn’t get off to such a smooth start in Matino, where a sloppy field led to cancellation of first-day games and a reconfiguration of competition among their six teams. Instead of a straight round-robin format, the pool was split into two groups with three teams each. Group A consists of Italian League champs T&A San Marino, Spain’s FC Barcelona, and AVG Draci Brno of the Czech Republic; while Group B includes France’s Senart Templiers, Holland’s Corendon Kinheim and Italy’s Fortitudo Bologna.

The top two teams from each pool will advance to June’s Euro Cup Final Four.

EUROPEAN CUP TOURNEY DRAWS SET FOR 2009

The Confederation of European Baseball has selected twelve prominent teams from eight nations for two European Cup tournaments to be held in 2009.
At a meeting in Frankfurt, Germany last weekend, the CEB set the draw for a pair of six-team tournaments in Italy between March 30 and April 4. One group will include Danesi Nettuno of Italy, the Amsterdam Pirates of Holland, France’s Rouen Huskies, Spain’s Puerto Cruz Marlins, the Antwerp Greys of Belgium, and the Regensburg Buchbinder Legionaere of Germany. Games will be played in Nettuno.
The second group will feature T&A San Marino, Italy’s Fortitudo Bologna, FC Barcelona of Spain, AVG Draci Brno of the Czech Republic, Corendon Kinheim from The Netherlands and France’s Templiers Senart. The site for these teams has not been determined.In addition, the CEB awarded four cities with Euro Cup Qualifying tournaments in mid-June: Trnava, Slovakia; Attnang-Puchheim, Austria; Antwerp, Belgium; and Ostrava, Czech Republic.

MLB TO HOST SPRING GAMES WITH EURO NATIONAL SIDES

Major League Baseball teams will play three games apiece against two national teams from Europe during spring training in Florida next March. The Italian National Team is scheduled to play the Washington Nationals, Florida Marlins and New York Mets; while the Dutch National Team is slated to face the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins after playing a contest against the University of South Florida.
The two three-game sets with big league teams are scheduled to take place between March 3 and 5 as both the Italian and Dutch teams prepare for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. While they are considered the two strongest baseball countries in Europe, neither is expected to contend for the WBC title.

PIAZZA, HARGROVE AND TREBLEHORN TO COACH FOR ITALY

Future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza, former first baseman and manager Mike Hargrove and ex-Milwaukee skipper Tom Treblehorn have all been named as coaches with Italy for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. The three will serve under Italian manager Marco Mazzieri.

Piazza will serve as Italy’s hitting coach and catching instructor in the WBC. He retired last winter after 16 big league seasons with five teams, batting .308 with 427 homers and 1.335 RBIs. Hargrove was an All-Star first baseman with Texas during his playing career, and managed three teams over 16 seasons in the majors (winning five straight division titles with Cleveland). He is currently coaching a semipro team in Kansas, and will be a bench coach for Italy. Treblehorn managed the Brewers for six seasons and one campaign with the Cubs, and has a lifetime .505 record as a skipper. He coaches in San Francisco’s minor league system, and will serve as Italy’s third base coach.