BASEBALL JOURNAL 1998: An inside look at Ukraine in international competitions
The following is the conclusion of an account of Ukraine's competition on the International Baseball Association's circuit, compiled by Basil P. Tarasko, the U.S.-based coach and coordinator of three Ukrainian teams. Mr. Tarasko is a member of the executive board of the Ukrainian Sports Club of New York and a member of the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the United States and Canada.
CONCLUSION
Saturday, August 8
My baseball summer continues. It's off to Vienna for the Pool B European Senior Baseball Championship. The top two finishers advance to Pool A competition in 1999.
Bulgaria hosted Ukraine in the opening game of the group competition, and we scored first in the fourth inning on a single by Ruslan Deykun of Kirovohrad, and an RBI triple by Alexander Inozemstev of Symferopil. Bulgaria tied the score in the fifth inning. Ukraine took the lead for good with three runs in the sixth featured by an inside-the-park home run by Dmytro Nelipa (Kirovohrad) and an RBI single by Vystyslav Taran (Kyiv). In the ninth, Ukraine scored three more runs to seal the our first victory.
Final score: Ukraine, 7-Bulgaria, 1.
Anatoliy Korolev of Symferopil pitched six and a third innings to get the win. Korolev struck out seven, gave up no walks, and allowed but three hits. Deykun led our attack with four hits, while Taran and Vasyl Antoshko of Kirovohrad chipped in two hits each.
Monday, August 10
Ukraine played host to Slovakia. The "visitors" scored single runs in the first and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead in a close pitching duel. Ukraine responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 3-2 lead. Deykun doubled to left, moved to third on a ground-out, and Inozemstev hit a sacrifice fly to knock in our first run. Chornomaz got hit with a pitch, Taran singled, then Antoshko ripped a clutch two-out hit into the outfield to knock in the other two runs.
In the eighth inning, Slovakia tied the score at three when pitcher Andriy Semenov (Symferopil) failed to cover first base. In the bottom of the inning Alexiy Gluhiy (Symferopil) tripled to right center and scored on an ensuing double by Nelipa. Pavlo Syrynchuk (Kirovohrad) hit a sacrifice fly to score Nelipa for Ukraine's fifth run.
Roman Yatsyk (Kyiv), Ukraine's first true "closer," earned the victory, but it wasn't easy. Slovakia got its first two batters on base, and even scored a run, but Yatsyk settled down and set down the side. Ukraine wins! Final score: Ukraine, 5-Slovakia, 4.
Trofimenko, the top pitcher of our Junior National Team, pitched an effective five innings, striking out four and allowing two runs. Semenov pitched two and two-thirds innings in relief, while Yatsyk got credit for Ukraine's second victory.
Leading our 10-hit attack were Antoshko, with three hits and two RBIs, and Deykun and Gluhiy with two hits each.
Back to Gluhiy: This 18-year-old is now pitching on a baseball scholarship at Lexington College in Kentucky. He is the first Ukrainian-born athlete to pitch in the U.S. on a baseball scholarship. Alexiy is paving the way for future Ukrainian players to come study and play baseball in the sport's home country.
Tuesday, August 11
Ukraine hosted Switzerland in Stockerau, Austria, to finish group competition. Antoshko walked to lead off the game and Nelipa hit a two-out double to bring in Ukraine's first of many runs. Deykun, our starting pitcher gave up a lead-off home run in the third inning to allow the Swiss to tie the score, but in the bottom of the third Ukraine struck for four runs to break the game open.
Alexander Skatkov (Kyiv) knocked in two runs with a single. Chornomaz and Taran had RBIs. We continued the hitting assault by scoring nine runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by Taran's home run and a double by Inozemstev that drove in two runs.
Final score: Ukraine, 15-Switzerland, 4. Deykun earned the victory by pitching six innings, allowing three hits, one run and one walk, and striking out eight. Taran, was the leading hitter with two hits and five runs batted in.
This victory enabled Ukraine to capture first place in Group C and was witnessed by representatives of Ukraine's Embassy in the Republic of Austria and by Alexander Nikulin, mayor of Kirovohrad, who explained the game of baseball to the diplomats. Our newfound friends learned the game quickly and they cheered us on to victory.
Wednesday, August 12
A day off for all 15 countries participating in the championship; Team Ukraine took this opportunity to tour beautiful Vienna. In the afternoon the team members arrived at the Embassy of Ukraine, where they were warmly greeted and hosted at a reception given by Ambassador Mykola Makarevych. After opening remarks by the ambassador, many photos were taken on the exquisite grounds. We all felt at home.
Thursday, August 13
Quarterfinal day in the tournament. The four group winners, Austria, Slovenia, Ukraine and Croatia, faced second-place finishers Ireland, Denmark, Georgia and Switzerland, respectively.
In our game, Georgia scored first. Two runs came across in the fourth inning on a bloop hit that Taran, our center fielder, should have caught for the third out. Then Gluhiy uncorked a wild pitch, allowing yet another run to score. In the seventh, Georgia added to its total to take commanding 4-0 lead.
Ukraine rallied in the eighth when pinch hitter Skatkov led off with a single. Inozemstev followed with a double to right to put runners on second and third with no outs. Wild pitches by the Georgian hurler allowed two runs to score to close the gap to 4-2. But this was not enough, and we went down to defeat. Final score: Georgia, 4-Ukraine, 2.
The Georgian pitcher pitched a masterful complete game, striking out 11, walking none and allowing only four hits.
Our pitcher Gluhiy lasted six innings, struck out five, but gave up eight hits, one walk and all four runs to take Ukraine's first loss. This meant Ukraine was relegated to play in the fifth- to eighth-place round. A bitter disappointment for favored Ukraine, but play on we must.
Friday, August 14
We faced Switzerland again. Although saddened, the team got the job done. Ruslan Deykun cashed in three runs to power Ukraine to a 10-0 shutout over the Swiss. Makarov (Kyiv) pitched a complete game for the victory.
Sunday, August 16
Denmark hosted Ukraine for fifth place at the European Senior Championships. Our boys came to play. There was no holding back. Ukraine scored early and often to explode past Denmark 25 to 6. Every player on the 18-player roster had a chance to bat. Taran and Tsarenko led our 23-hit attack with four hits each, while Skatkov had four RBIs.
Semenov pitched four innings, allowing four runs before being relieved by Trofimenko. Trofimenko earned the victory in relief.
To sum up, Ukraine finished with a record of 5-1, second best in the tournament, but that one defeat prevented Ukraine from advancing to the Pool A Championship next summer.
Final results: Croatia won the gold. Slovenia earned the silver, Georgia the bronze. Ukraine finished in fifth place.
Members of the Team Ukraine coaching staff included Basil P. Tarasko, (New York), Oleh Boiko (Kirovohrad), Yuriy Boiko (Kirovohrad) and Mykola Gluhiy (Symferopil).
The head of the delegation was Vitaliy Lyzohubenko, executive director of the Ukraine Baseball Federation.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 6, 1998, No. 49, Vol. LXVI
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