After three defeats in the group phase, the Wiener Neustadt Diving Ducks were challenged in the relegation match against Deurne. And the Austrian baseball champions had never been so close to a win in this tournament: With the score at 3:3, the game went into extra innings, where Clemens Raimann helped Felix Astner and Henry Leabourn to two points with his double and put the Ducks in an advantageous starting position.
But the Spartans had the right answer to that too: First they equalized, then a weak ground ball was used to give the Belgians a decisive 6:5 final score. This meant that Austria lost the second starting place for the Europe Cup (the Metrostars won their relegation match).
“The level was very high. It’s a shame that we lost the last game,” reports official Martin Zoufal, who puts the result into perspective, because while the Ducks relied mostly on homegrown players, the opposing teams were peppered with numerous legionnaires, the young Wiener Neustadt players still kept coming into the spotlight, such as Clemens Raimann (17). “He made a play in defense, you normally see that in the Major League,” enthuses Zoufal.
2024-06-12 03:34:19
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