Joey Wagman delivered one of the greatest individual performances in Israel Baseball history on Thursday night in leading the boys in blue-and-white past the Czech Republic 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the European Championships at Impianti Sportivi Comunali Avigliana in Italy. Israel will take on host Italy in the semifinals on Friday night.

Wagman pitched 7 strong innings before moving to left field for the final 2 innings. He tied the game with a perfectly-placed bunt in the bottom of the 7th and drove in the game-winner with a single to score Itai Goldner with 2 outs in the 9th. His final line was 2 runs – 1 earned – on 3 hits and 1 walk with 10 strikeouts as a pitcher. Wagman was 2 for 2 with 2 RBI as a hitter.

“This was an extremely hard-fought game. That Czech team is even better than the team we faced two years ago," Wagman said. "They’re a solid baseball team. That’s a good lineup. Those are two extremely good and talented pitchers that we faced. It was a tight ballgame and we did everything that we could to try to win the game. To be able to help the team on the mound and then be able to help the team at the plate was amazing. We did everything we could to win the game and we got the job done.”

Ben Wanger was credited as the winning pitcher. He struck out 2 in pitching scoreless 8th and 9th innings.

"I am proud of the guys for finding a way to win," Manager Nate Fish said. "It was a close game against a good team and we just kept going."

Israel scored first in the bottom of the third inning when Tal Erel walked, reached third on a Ty Kelly double and came home on Mitch Glasser’s groundout. They gave the lead up quickly when Assaf Lowengart’s throwing error in the top of the fourth allowed Petr Cech to score. Marek Chlup drilled a no-doubt-about-in homer in the seventh to put the Czech Republic up 2-1.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jordan Petrushka singled and advanced to third when Goldner reached on an error. Wagman stepped to the plate for the first time and brought Petrushka home with a perfect bunt. With 2 outs in the 9th, Goldner singled and advanced to second base on a throwing error. Wagman lined the fourth pitch he saw to center field and Goldner sprinted home to set off the celebrations.

Israel out-hit the Czechs 8-4. Glasser, who was 2 for 4 with a double, was the only Israeli hitter with multiple hits aside from Wagman. Erel also reached base twice via walks.

Israel advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2021 European Championships after a convincing 11-4 victory over Great Britain on Tuesday afternoon at Complesso Valter Aluffi in Settimo Torine, Italy. The boys in blue-and-white finished atop Group C with a 3-0 record and will face the Group D runner-up in the Quarterfinals on Thursday night.

“I have been with the team for like 15 years. We have gone from getting our asses kicked in the B pool to finally getting into the A pool to being a number one seed into the quarterfinals of the A pool,” Manager Nate Fish said, “It has been an incredible journey. We used to dream about just making it into the A pool. The guys are playing great. All the credit goes to them. We started an 18-year-old kid today, Ivri, and he threw 3.1 of no-hit baseball. That is remarkable. We’re continuing to hit and play defense too. The guys are balling.”

There were many heroes for Israel in the game, including Jordan Petrushka and Assaf Lowengart, who each belted 2-run home runs; Ty Kelly and Ben Wanger, who each reached base 5 times and combined to score 5 runs, and teenage pitcher Ivri Margolin, who made his senior national team debut and struck out 4 in 3.1 no-hit innings.

Veteran Orr Gottlieb came in relief of Margolin and struck out 3 in 2.2 innings. D.J. Sharabi and Itai Goldner, who started the game as the DH, each threw a scoreless inning of relief, too. Sharabi was credited as the winning pitcher.

Lowengart, who blasted a pair of 3-run homers in Monday's win over France, picked up where he left off with a second-inning double to bring home Wanger and open the scoring. Israel tacked on 2 more runs that inning when Tal Erel drove in Lowengart, and Goldner came in to score on a throwing error.

Petrushka made it 5-0 with a home run to left-center field in the third inning. Great Britain got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth after two walks and two balks, but Israel kept going in the fifth with Lowengart's home run for an 8-1 lead, from which the British never recovered.

BOX SCORE

Assaf Lowengart drilled a pair of 3-run home runs and Ben Wanger allowed 1 hit and struck out 7 in 5.2 scoreless innings of relief to lead Team Israel to a 10-0 rout of France at the European Championships in Italy on Monday. Israel improved to 2-0 in Group C and will secure a place in the quarterfinals with a victory over Great Britain – or a win for France over Russia – in the final games of the opening round on Tuesday.

Lowengart went 3 for 5 to lead Israel with 6 runs batter in. His first shot broke the game open in the sixth inning to put Israel up 5-0. He added insurance runs with a second blast in the ninth.

“Fantastic job by our starter D.J. Sharabi and Benny Wanger in relief was unbelievable,” Israel Manager Nate Fish said. “Lowengart with two 3-run homers accounted for most of the scoring, but as always it was a team win. We scored two in the first inning which was big and just kept adding on. Their starter was good too, he just made a couple of mistakes and we were lucky to capitalize. Really proud of our guys.”

Jordan Petrushka opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with a 2-run single that plated Robb Paller and Mitch Glasser. Itai Goldner scored Israel’s sixth run when Ty Kelly reached on an error in the sixth. Wanger drove in a run in the ninth before Lowengart put the icing on the cake.

Sharabi allowed 3 hits and struck out 4 before tiring and coming out with one out in the fourth inning. Wanger, who started the game at first base, took over and was near perfect the rest of the way to close out the win. Wanger also had 2 hits and scored twice, while Mitch Glasser had another strong game and went 2 for 3 with 2 walks and 2 runs scored. 

Team Israel started the European Championships with a nail-biting 2-1 extra-innings victory over Russia on Sunday night in Turin, Italy. Russia pitcher Adrian Rodriguez Telles committed a bases-loaded balk that sent Jordan Petrushka home with the winning run with 1 out in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Charles “Bubby” Rossman was the winning pitcher after coming on in relief and recording 5 outs despite pitching to only three batters! Rossman relieved D.J. Sharabi with one out and the bases loaded in the top of the ninth and induced an inning-ending double-play. He started the top of the 10th with runners on first and second – as per international rules in extra innings – and got the first batter to hit into a double-play and then struck out Viacheslav Vasilev to end the inning.

Pinch-hitter Ophir Katz led off the Israeli half of the 10th with a bunt, which sent Petrushka to third, from where he scored on the first pitch to Ty Kelly.

“It was all about Joey Wagman going 8 and our middle infielders playing great and believing we were going to find a way to win a well-pitched, tight game,” Nate Fish said after his first game as Israel’s manager. ”It was a nerve-wracking game that went our way in the end.”

Wagman pitched a gem as Israel’s starter. He went 8 innings and allowed 1 run on 3 hits. Wagman struck out 7 and walked only 1.

Russia scored the game’s first run on a Geidys Soler Hinojosa double that knocked in David Velazquez in the fourth. Israel tied it when Mitch Glasser's sacrifice bunt brought home Kelly in the sixth. Kelly, who went 2 for 4 with a stolen base, was the only Israel player with multiple hits. Robb Paller and Glasser each reached base with a hit and a walk.

Israel faces France in its second game at 17:00 local time on Monday knowing that a victory could send it through to the quarterfinals stage.

Box score

Come play baseball!

Open tryouts for the 2021-22 IAB Premier League season will take place on September 29-30, 2021, from 19:00-21:30 at Baptist Village. 

For ages 17 and up. All players who want to try out must register and bring a valid sports medical test.

Games will be on Sundays and Thursdays at 19:15.

Register for tryouts at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQXDDke7TMqnamYH2QFSNOcyIzwKLHg_4Zbmi4hL08t9Ysog/viewform?usp=sf_link