The 1995 European Baseball Championship was held in the Haarlem, the Netherlands and won by the Netherlands. Italy finished second. The top two teams qualified for the 1996 Summer Olympics. In its semifinal match, Belgium chose to not start ace pitcher Frank Mathys with Olympic qualification at stake, preferring he help the team finish in third.

The tournament expanded to 10 teams from eight teams in 1993. Few of the preliminary games were competitive, with the closest winning margin being 3 runs and the winning team scoring at least 11 runs in 15 of the 20 games. Italy was the only team that beat the Dutch or kept them under 10 runs in a game. Slovakia and Ukraine competed for the first time, with Ukraine's win over Slovakia the only victory for either team in the tournament.

Standings

Pos.TeamRecord
1Netherlands8–1
2Italy6–3
3Belgium6–3
4Spain5–5
5France5–2
6Germany4–3
7Sweden3–4
8Russia2–5
9Ukraine1–6
10Slovenia0–7

Sources

Awards

Individual awards and statistical leaders

AwardPlayerTeam
Most valuable playerJohnny BalentinaNetherlands
Best hitter
Most runs scored
Most stolen bases
Best pitcher (win–loss record)Frank Mathys, 3–0Belgium
Most strikeoutsMathys, 30
Best pitcher (earned run average)Carlos RosSpain
Most home runsArnaud Fau, 5France
Most runs batted inEdsel MartisNetherlands

All-Star team

PositionPlayerTeam
PitcherMassimilliano MasinItaly
CatcherJohnny BalentinaNetherlands
First basemanEric de Bruin[nl]Netherlands
Second basemanStephan JägerGermany
Third basemanYevgeny PuchkovRussia
ShortstopAndrea EvangelistiItaly
OutfieldOscar Rebolleda[pl]Spain
Roberto De Franceschi[it]Italy
Arnaud FauFrance
Designated hitterEdsel MartisNetherlands

Sources

External links

  • . sport-komplett.de (in German).