Battista long relief effort shuts down Israel, as GB U15s mount comeback from 4-1 deficit to win 10-6

Charlie Battista’s four-and-two-thirds innings of relief, with eight strikeouts, was the key to GB overcoming an early 4-1 deficit to build a 10-4 lead before holding on for a 10-6 win over a previously undefeated Israel team.

GB U15s celebrate their 10-6 win over Israel

The win propels GB – now 3-1 - into a strong position to make the tournament final.

Battista relieved in the third inning to face a bases loaded, no outs jam, in an inning where Israel eventually managed to put four runs on the board (three unearned), assisted by some defensive lapses by GB.

Jacob Henry got the start for GB and got the first two innings with scoreless pitching against an Israel team that had scored 44 runs in its first 3 victories.

Jacob Henry got the start for GB

Jacob’s second inning saw him strand runners on second and third with one out, by getting consecutive Israel batters to pop out to the pitcher.

Facing a 4-1 deficit, the GB bats came to life in the third inning. ‘Two out rallies’ were the theme of today’s scoring for GB. In the third inning, Charlie Battista led off with a double to deep left field.

Two outs later, Evan Ust came up with runners on and crushed a three-run home run into the bushes overlooking the left field fence scoring Charlie and Euan Gulliver, who had got on base with yet another walk.

Shortstop Evan Ust crushed a three run home run

GB were back in it now, with the score tied 4-4 after three innings.

It really turned into a tight, tense game then, as neither team scored in the 4th inning. Charlie Battista shut down the Israelis in the top of the fifth to set the stage for the bottom-fifth.

Things looked promising with GB having the top of the order up. Unfortunately, the first two up succumbed to strikeouts, but three consecutive walks followed, and then Harry Craig hit a ground ball to 3B which seemed like the third out but turned into a two-base error on the throw and GB suddenly had taken a 6-4 lead.

This set things up for Griffin Franklin’s heroics.  Griffin drilled a two run single to right field that got by the right fielder and enabled Griffin to get to 3rd base, with GB now up 8-4.

 Tiebreaker scenarios were coming into play late in the game. As fans did mental arithmetic in their heads it became apparent that GB would be in a great position if it won by at least four runs, so building and holding the lead became crucial.

The team tagged on two more runs in the bottom/6th to make it 10-4, sparked by leadoff infield single by Charlie Battista, and a flyball to right by Euan Gulliver that was dropped for an error, scoring a run, and then setting up Jacob Henry for an RBI single to score the final run which could be crucial for any tiebreakers.  

The Israelis managed two clutch hits in the top/7th to make the score 10-6, and with two outs and a very crucial run - given the tiebreaker rules – on first base Lucas De Lope came in to relieve Charlie and got the Israeli #3 hitter, Spillman to ground out to short to end the game.

It was a great pitching effort by all three against a high-scoring Israeli team.

 Overall, it wasn’t GB’s best day in the field, as pitchers weren’t always getting the usual support, but there were a few defensive gems. In the first inning, Ollie Galvin made two great catches in left field well hit balls by Israel’s #2 and #3 batters in the lineup, Feder and Spilman.

That was the key to the game, getting out of that first inning scoreless despite the Israeli team getting some good looks in their at-bats.

Jacob Henry made a superb inning-ending running catch in RF of a fly ball with two outs in the 4th inning and an Israeli runner in scoring position to keep the score tied at 4-4.

 With GB playing the early game on Thursday, there are a few scenarios that could happen with Thursday’s games.

The one certainty is that if GB – now 3-1 - comes and beats Lithuania – 1-2 going into their Thursday matchup against Finland – they will have secured their spot in the final against either Ukraine or Israel.

Thursday’s game against the host nation Lithuania takes place at 5pm local time (3pm UK time)

You can stream the game here and follow play by play here

All photos courtesy of WBSC Europe