World No. 14 Italy prevailed over No. 17 Germany in a close final game of the U-18 Baseball European Championship 2024 at the Armin-Wolf-Baseball-Arena complex in Regensburg, which will also host the Baseball European Championship 2027.
Both teams are the first to qualify for the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025.
Giacomo Taschin, who later was named MVP for the tournament, threw six-plus strong innings in the final, allowing just one run on four hits, a run and a walk, striking out five.
Italy and Germany already had met in the last game of the first round, with the Squadra Azzurri winning 9-3 to win Group A undefeated. In the semifinals, Italy then edged out Great Britain in an extra-inning thriller. Germany, who had already impressed during the first round including a 7-1 victory over defending champions Spain, stunned record U-18 title holder Netherlands with a 6-1 win in the second semifinal.
In the Gold Medal Game, Italy struck first and took a quick 1-0 lead, when Edoardo Cornelli scored on a wild pitch. Federico de Cristan extended the advantage to 3-0 with a couple of RBI hits in the third and fifth. In the seventh and last frame Germany threatened to come back, but outside a RBI double by Darrion Richards they couldn’t score.
For Italy its their 15th title in that age category in European baseball. For Germany, who had just had won the U-12 Baseball European Championship for the fourth time, it was their first U-18 Baseball European Championship final and a first silver medal.
Italy will be making their 19th appearance at a WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup next year, while for Germany it will be the second appearance and first since 2004. They finished in 10th place in Taipei City. Italy finished in 5th place at the Junior Baseball World Cup in 1981 in Newark, USA.
A total of 12 national teams participated in the U-18 Baseball European Championship 2024 with the Netherlands (3), Great Britain (4) and France (5) rounding off the top five. Spain (6), Czechia (7), Austria (8), Israel (9), Belgium (10), Sweden (11) and Croatia (12) concluded the final standings.
