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IRISH TAKE SILVER MEDAL AT EUROPEAN OLYMPIC QUALIFIER (Aug 5, 2006)
Ireland lost to Croatia 12 -2 in the European Championship Final on Saturday, August 5th. At the end of the day, Croatia are deserved Champions. They only gave up eight runs for the entire tournament and down the stretch, they allowed just three runs in three games.
Ireland go away from this tournament as well deserved Silver Medalists having only lost to Croatia and beaten the heavily favoured Belgians in one of the games of the tournament. Once again, Ireland show improvement and achieve their greatest ever accomplishment in European Championship competition.
IRELAND TO PLAY FOR OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION IMMORTALITY (Aug 4)
Ireland lost to Croatia in the final Group game Friday morning 2-1 behind the brilliant pitching of David Callaghan. Despite the great performance by Callaghan, the Irish couldn't mister run support for his gem but showed once again this squad could play with the best that the B-Pool could offer.
Then, against the tournament favourites Belgium, Ireland took it one step further. Behind one of the gutsiest pitching performances by an Ireland hurler, Brendan Bergerson showed what Irish 'Brod agus Onor' is all about. Bergerson stymied the potent Belgian offense for a complete game victory 4-1 to launch Ireland into its first ever gold medal game. Excuse me as I am completely locked while writing this but this is absolutely awesome and I couldn't give a hoot! Joe Kielthy's two run homer in the first paced the squad initially and combined with Ireland's solid defense and Bergerson's masterpiece, Ireland face Croatia in the B-Pool European Championship Final on Saturday night.
RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY - IRELAND TO PLAY DOUBLEHEADER FRIDAY (Aug 3)
In a Tournament dogged by inclement weather, Ireland's final group game against Croatia was called off Thursday evening due to rain. The Irish will resume the competition on Friday morning at 10:00 against Croatia and then play either Belgium or Switzerland in the Semi-Final at 18:00.
IRISH ROLL ON WITH 7-1 VICTORY OVER NORWAY (Aug 2)
The Irish National Baseball Team won its second straight game in the European Championships against Norway 7-1 and have qualified for the semi-finals of the Antwerp Euro Qualifier. This rain shortened affair only went 5 innings before umpires decided that conditions were too bad to continue. Starter Nat Anglin, and relievers Brendan Bergeson and Sean Finn were once again backed by solid defense and timely hitting. The final game of the preliminary round on Thursday sees Ireland face juggernaut Croatia for the division top spot.
IRELAND WIN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP OPENER 6-2 (Aug 1)
The Irish National Baseball Team won its European Championship opener against a determined Slovakian side on Tuesday by a score of 6-2. Led by flame thrower Chris 'Gunnin' Gannon, who dominated the Slovakian lineup, the Irish got some timely hits and played great defense and led all the way. |
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IRISH NATIONAL TEAM - SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
DATE / TIME
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LOCATION
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EVENT |
Sun 7th May, 11am
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Corkagh Park, Clondalkin |
Open Trials for selection to the 2006 squad |
| Fri 12th May, 6:30pm |
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Irish National Team vs GB Junior National Team |
Sat 13th May, 2pm
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Irish National Team vs GB Junior National Team |
End of May
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Irish National Team Announced |
Sat 3rd June
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Cork - Location TBD
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Exhibition Game featuring Irish National Team vs President's Nine |
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Dublin Tournament |
Thu 27th July
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Travel day to London
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Travel day to London |
Fri 28th July
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Brighton, England
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Irish National Team vs Great Britain Senior National Team |
Sat 29th July
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Brighton, England
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Irish National Team vs Great Britain Senior National Team |
Sun 30th July
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Travel to Belgium
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Travel to Belgium |
Mon 31st July
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European Championships - Belgium
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European Championships Technical Meeting |
Tues 1st Aug
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European Championships - Belgium
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Ireland v Slovakia |
Wed 2nd Aug
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European Championships - Belgium
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Ireland v Norway |
Thu 3rd Aug
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European Championships - Belgium
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Ireland v Croatia |
| Fri 4th Aug |
European Championships - Belgium
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Playoffs & Semi-finals |
| Sat 5th Aug |
European Championships - Belgium |
Playoffs & Final |
| Sun 6th Aug |
Travel to Ireland |
Travel to Ireland |
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IRISH NATIONAL TEAM NEWS - 2004
IRELAND BOUNCE BACK AND WIN BRONZE MEDAL (2004)
IRELAND 12 - SERBIA-MONTENEGRO 8
(August 8, 2004) Following the disappointment of losing in the semi-final to Slovenia, Ireland bounced back strongly and made amends by defeating a determined Serbia-Montenegro team 12-8 and in so doing claimed a Bronze medal at the European B-Pool Baseball Championships. |
Although the Irish started well in this game and led 4-1 early on, a few defensive mishaps cost them the lead and allowed Serbia-Montenegro to build a 6-4 lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning.
It was at this point that the Irish offense exploded and after scoring six times in the sixth inning, led by the clutch hitting of Ruaidhri Murphy and Chris Foy, Ireland held a 10-6 lead.
Kevin Corrigan's second homerun of these Championships in the eighth inning brought home two more and put the icing on the cake as Ireland won their first-ever piece of European Championship silverware. (Click here for the official statistics for the IRELAND vs Serbia-Montenegro Bronze Medal Game)
Joe Kealty hit his fourth homerun of the Championships in the first inning and was later crowned the Homerun Champion of the tournament at the closing ceremonies.
Germany were crowned B-Pool Champions after defeating Slovenia in the final 9-3. |
Tom Kelley laces a single to centre-field in
the crucial six-run sixth inning |
CORRIGAN'S HEROICS DELIVER IRELAND A PLACE IN SEMI-FINAL (AUG 5)
IRELAND 5 - SERBIA-MONTENEGRO 3
| Kevin Corrigan delivered a dramatic two-run homerun in the bottom of the eighth as Ireland backed up another great Irish pitching display, this time by David Callaghan, and went on to defeat Serbia-Montenegro 5-3.
The Irish and Serbia-Montenegrins battled all game in this tight see-saw affair but K-Co's eighth inning blast with Tom Kelley aboard nailed down the victory and gave Ireland the honour of winning their group. Joe Kealty continued his hot hitting in the tournament with a single and his second bomb in these Championships. |
Kevin Corrigan's two-run bomb in the eighth was the difference againt the Serbia-Montenegrins |
But it was the tremendous pitching effort of David Callaghan that kept the Irish in the game and in a position to win. Callaghan threw a complete game six hitter and struck out eight for his second complete game victory in Irish International competitions.
(Click here for the official statistics for the IRELAND vs Serbia-Montenegro game)
In the Semi-Finals on Saturday (16:00 GMT), Ireland will face the runners-up of Group A, Slovenia. Germany will face Serbia-Montenegro in the other Semi-final.
David Callaghan (at right) threw a complete game six hitter to lead the Irish to their third straight win in the Championship.
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IRELAND COMEBACK TO BEAT AUSTRIA IN THRILLER!!! (AUG 3)
Ireland continued their march towards the European Baseball Championships semi-finals with a come from behind victory over favoured Austria winning 8-2 in 11 innings.
Ireland fell behind the favoured Austrians in the first inning but behind the gutsy pitching of Chris Gannon and Cormac Eklof, in relief, the Irish held the Austrian offence in check and tied the game in the fifth inning to make it 2-2.
It stayed that way until the top of the 11th inning when John Dillon tripled to right field and was followed by another triple by Joe Kealty to put the Irish ahead for good. (Click here for the official statistics for the IRELAND vs Austria game) Ireland continued the offensive pressure in the inning and scored another five runs. Brian Morris came in to pitch the last half of the 11th inning and closed out the game for an 8-2 Ireland victory.
The win means Ireland are almost assured of a semi-final spot barring a series of unlikely coincidences and results involving the other teams in the group.
Ireland finish the preliminary stage against Serbia-Montenegro on Thursday (11:00 GMT). |
After giving up two in the first inning, Chris Gunnin' Gannon pitched brilliantly and kept the Irish side close before they went on to win in 11 innings |
IRELAND DEFEAT FINLAND IN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP OPENER (AUG 2)
Ireland got off to a dream start to their 2004 European B-Pool Baseball Championship campaign by defeating Finland 25-5.
Ireland scored six times in their half of the first inning and never looked back in what was the biggest offensive display in Irish National Team history. After the first three Irish batters reached base, left-handed hitting Joe Kealty smashed a grand slam homerun deep over the rightfield fence to put the Irish on their way. Ireland continued their scoring rampage by collecting three runs in the second inning, one in the third, six in the fourth inning and eight in the fifth to put the game well out of reach of the Finns.
Other offensive standouts for the Irish were John Dillon who had three hits and drove in four runs, Kevin Foy who collected three hits and scored five times and Patrick Nolan who had two hits and drove home three runs. (Click here for the official statistics for the IRELAND vs Finland game)
Led by lefthanded pitcher, Brendan Bergerson, the Irish defense completely shutdown the Finnish offense until the fifth inning when the Irish had already rolled out to a 16-0 lead. Bergerson pitched five impressive innings, allowing just two hits, one unearned run while striking out nine.
Ireland play Austria on Tuesday (18:00 GMT) in their second game of the round-robin group stage and finish the preliminary stage against Serbia-Montenegro on Thursday (11:00 GMT). |
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Winning Pitcher Brendan Bergerson delivers an 85mph fastball during Ireland's 25-5 defeat of Finland on
August 2nd |
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NASN - Proud Supporters of the Irish National Baseball Team
2004 NATIONAL TEAM 'DATES FOR THE DIARY'
June 5 - 7: Dublin Tournament
Juyl 31 - August 6: European 'B-Pool' Championships (Regensburg, Germany)
2004 IRISH TEAMS FINALISED
The final roster for the 2004 Irish National Baseball Team has been announced.
| Irish National Baseball Team - 2004 |
| Player |
Player |
Player |
| John Dillon (Captain) |
Gareth Donnelly |
Chris Gannon |
| Brendan Bergerson |
Joe Kealty |
Kevin Foy |
| Will Beglane |
Brian Morris |
Tom Kelley |
| Kevin Corrigan |
David Callaghan |
Russ Manning |
| Cormac Eklof |
Chris Foy |
Pat Nolan |
| Darran O'Connor |
Gareth Kelly |
Niall Rowen |
| Eoin O'Connor |
Ruaidhri Murphy |
Jimmy Pita |
| Management Team |
| Sean Mitchell |
Mick Manning |
Ed Cooney |
| Jason Nebenzahl |
Jon Houston |
Noel Mitchell |
| PJ Fox |
Paul Peake |
Fran McCrossan |
SSK Europe - The European Baseball Centre
Supporters of Baseball Ireland and the Irish National Baseball Team
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IRELAND READY AND PREPARED FOR EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (AUG 1)
Ireland compete in the European B-Pool Baseball Championships (Official Championship Website) in Regensburg Germany, which takes place from August 1st to 8th.
The Irish play three preliminary games in their group, which also includes Finland, Austria & Serbia-Montenegro, with the top two teams advancing to the Semi-Finals which take place on Saturday, August 7th.
The winner of the B-Pool Championship will be promoted to the A-Pool where they will compete against the giants of European baseball in the Olympic qualification tournament for Beijing 2008.
Ireland begin their campaign against Finland on Monday, August 2nd, a team they have beaten in both the 1998 and 2002 European B-Pool Championships. The Irish then play Austria on Tuesday, August 3rd and finish the group stage against Serbia-Montenegro on Thursday, August 5th.
Although Ireland has only had an International team participating in European competitions since 1996, this is, without question, the strongest and best prepared team in its short history. They are bouyed by the fact that in 2002, the Irish reached the semi-final stage, losing to the eventual Champions and host nation Sweden.
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