Israel faltered late and lost 9-4 to the Netherlands in the final of the 2021 CEB European Championships in Turin, Italy, on Sunday night. The boys in blue and white led 4-1 at the seventh-inning stretch, but allowed the Dutch to score 4 runs in the bottom of the seventh and 4 more in the eighth to win the European crown for the 24th time.

Israel finished as the tournament runner-up and the silver medals won represent the first medals of any kind for Israel at the European Championships. In fact, Israel is just the 11th nation to ever medal in the 36 editions of the tournament.

Although the Netherlands scored first in the bottom of the second inning, Israel came back in the fourth. Ty Kelly and Mitch Glasser started the inning with walks. Kelly came home on Robb Paller’s sacrifice fly and Glasser followed on Jordan Petrushka's infield single. Assaf Lowengart crushed a 2-run homer in the sixth to make it 4-1.

Ben Wanger, who pitched 5 innings in relief of started Joey Wagman, tired in the 7th and was replaced by Bubby Rossman after allowing the first two batters to reach base. Roger Bernadina tied it with a clutch home run and the Dutch rally continued as Sharlon Schoop drove in the go-ahead run. Schoop added a 2-run double in the eighth and Dashenko Ricardo followed with a home run to put the game on ice.

Mike Groen was the winning pitcher after throwing a scoreless seventh for the Netherlands and Wendell Florandus struck out 4 in perfect eighth and ninth innings to get the save. Rossman took the loss after allowing 2 runs on 4 hits.

The Dutch had 13 hits compared to Israel’s 4. Israel also committed 3 errors, while the Netherlands had 1.

BOX SCORE

This is the 36^th time Europe will crown a continental champion in baseball.

The Netherlands is the winningest nation in European baseball with 23 gold medals.

The Netherlands has played in the gold-medal game a record 32 times.

The last time the Netherlands did not reach the European championship game was 1967.

Israel will stand on the podium for the first time in just its second appearance in the European Championships (Pool A).

Israeli finished fourth at the European Championships in 2019. Nine players from the current roster played at that tournament: Tal Erel, Mitch Glasser, Ty Kelly, Shlomo Lipetz, Assaf Lowengart, Robb Paller, D.J. Sharabi, Joey Wagman and Ben Wanger.

Israel will become the 11^th nation to medal at the European championships.

Israel's roster at the European championships features 10 native-born Israeli players:

Shaked Baruch, Tal Erel, Itai Goldner, Orr Gottlieb, David Ibn-Ezra, Ophir Katz, Shlomo Lipetz, Assaf Lowengart, Ivri Margolin and Ido Peled.

The Israel roster has five players on the roster who helped Israel place first at the 2019 European Championships U18 Qualifier in Sweden: Shaked Baruch, Itai Goldner, Ivri Margolin, Jordan Petrushka and Ido Peled.

Four players have both hit and pitched for Israel at the tournament: Itai Goldner, Ty Kelly, Joey Wagman and Ben Wanger.

Assaf Lowengart enters the final day of competition tied for second in the tournament with 3 home runs. He is tied for third with 11 RBI.

Mitch Glasser is tied for second in the tournament with 4 doubles.

Glasser and Ty Kelly are tied for sixth in the tournament with 6 walks each.

Joey Wagman is tied for the tournament lead with 17 strikeouts.

Ben Wanger is one of three pitchers at the tournament with a 2-0 record.

Ivri Margolin is the youngest player on the Israel roster at 18 years, 5 months and 6 days.

Shlomo Lipetz is the oldest player on the Israel roster at 42 years, 7 months and 8 days.

Israel made history on Friday by seeing off host Italy 11-5 in the semifinals of the CEB European Baseball Championships in Avigliana, Italy. The boys in blue and white will take on defending champion Netherlands in the gold-medal game in Turin on Sunday.

Italy took control of the game early on home runs by Dario Pizzano, Vito Friscia and Federico Celli to take a 4-1 lead in the second inning. But starting pitcher Shlomo Lipetz settled down after that and the Israeli bate heated up. Assaf Lowengart's 2-run double tied the game in the bottom of the second and Tal Erel, Mitch Glasser and Ben Wanger each had RBI hits as Israel surged ahead 7-4 in the third inning. Erel came home on a wild pitch in the fifth and Glasser slugged a bases-loaded double in the sixth for a commanding 7-run lead, from which Italy never recovered.

Lipetz was the winning pitcher after allowing 4 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk in 6 innings. Bubby Rossman threw a 1-2-3 seventh inning and got the first out of the eighth before starting shortstop Ty Kelly assumed the mound. He promptly induced an inning-ending double play and – despite allowing a run to score in the ninth – finished the game by snaring a line drive up the middle to send Israel to the championship game.

All nine Israel started had at least 1 hit. Glasser was 2 for 4 with 4 RBI. Erel also had 2 hits and scored 3 times and Kelly reached base 4 times – 3 via walks – and scored twice. Walks played a key role in the final outcome as the Italian pitchers issued 13 bases on balls compared to just 1 by Israel.

Closing it out to get to the championship aka just another Friday pic.twitter.com/vxPkZD51Qd

— Ty Kelly (@tykelly11) September 18, 2021

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.