Ukraine baseball report:
European Senior BB championship in Vienna, Austria.
Basil P. Tarasko, Reporter.

Sat. August 8, 1998, Vienna, Austria:
Bulgaria hosts Ukraine in the opening game of the group competition at the European Senior Baseball Championship in Pool B. The top two finishers advance to Pool A competition in 1999.

Ukraine scores first in the 4th inning on a single by Ruslan Deykun (Kirovograd), and an RBI triple by Alexander Inozemstev (Symferopil).  Bulgaria ties the score in the 5th inning. Ukraine takes the lead for good with 3 runs in the 6th fueled by an inside the park home run by Dmytro Nelipa (Kirovograd), and an RBI single by Vystyslav Taran (Kyiv). In the 9th inning Ukraine scores 3 more runs to seal its first victory.
Final score: Ukraine 7 Bulgaria 1.

Anatoliy Korolev (Symferopil), pitches 6.1 innings to get the win.  Korolov strikes out 7, walks none, and allows but 3 hits.  Leading the hitting attack for Uraine were Deykun with 4, Taran and Wasyl Antoshko (Kirovograd), with 2 hits each.

Roman Yatsyk and Coach Tarasko (1997 photo, Paris)

Monday, August 10, Vienna, Austria:
Ukraine hosts Slovakia.  Slovakia scores single runs in the 1st and 5th innings to take a 2-0 lead.  Ukraine responds with 3 runs in the bottom of the 5th to take a 3-2 lead.  Deykun doubles to left, moves to third on a ground out and Inozemstev hits a sacrifice fly to knock in the first run.  Ihor Chornomaz (Kirovograd), gets hit with a pitch, Taran singles, and Antoshko rips a clutch two out hit to score two runs.  In the 8th Slovakia ties the score at 3 when pitcher Andriy Semenov (Symferopil), fails to cover first base on a ball hit wide of first base.  In the bottom on the inning Alexiy Gluhiy (Symferopil), triples to right center and scores on a double by Nelipa. Pavlo Syrynchuk ( Kirovograd), hits a sacrifice fly to score Nelipa for Ukraine's fifth run.

Roman Yatsyk (Kyiv), Ukraine's first true "Closer," earns the victory despite allowing the first 2 Slovaks to reach base in the 9th inning.  Slovakia scores but one run.  Ukraine wins. Final score: Ukraine 5 Slovakia 4.

Alexander Trofimenko (Symferopil), the top pitcher of Ukraine's Junior National Team, pitches an effective 5 innings striking out 4 and allows 2 runs.  Semenov pitched 2.2 innings in relief and Yatsyk earned Ukraine's second victory pitching the final 1.1 innings.

Leading the ten hit attack were Antoshko with 3 hits and 2 RBIs, and Deykun and Gluhiy with 2 hits each.

Tuesday August 11, Stockerau, Austria:
Ukraine hosts Switzerland to finish group competition.  Antoshko walks to lead off the game and Nelipa hits a 2 out double to bring in Ukraine's first of many runs.  Deykun, our starting pitcher gives up a lead off home run in the third inning to tie the score at 1 each. In the bottom of the inning Ukraine strikes for 4 runs to break the game open.  Alexander Skatkov, ( Kyiv) knocked in two runs with a single. Chornomaz, top hitter of the Ukraine Junior Team, and center fielder Taran had RBI hits.  End of 3 innings Ukraine 5 Swiss 1.   Ukraine continued the hitting assault by scoring nine runs in the 5th inning featured by a home run by Taran and a double by Inozemstev which scored 2 runs.   Final score: Ukraine 15 Swiss 4.  Deykun earned the victory by pitching six innings allowing 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, while striking out 8.  Taran, batting in the ninth position in the tournament, was the leading hitter with 2 hits and five runs batted in.

Witnessing this victory, which enabled Ukraine to capture first place in Group C were representatives of the Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Austria.  Mr. Alexander Nikylin, Mayor of Kirovograd, explained the game of baseball to Embassy representatives.   Our newly found friends learned the game quickly and they cheered us on to victory.

Mr. Mykola Makarewich, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Austria and coach Tarasko.

Ukraine Baseball coaching staff meet with Mr. Makarewich at the Ukraine Embassy in Vienna, Austria.

Wednesday, August 12:
An off day for all 15 countries participating in the Championship.

Team Ukraine took this opportunity to tour beautiful Vienna.  Later that afternoon Team Ukraine arrived at the Ukraine Embassy where we were warmly greeted and hosted at a reception given by Mr. Mykola Makarewich, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Austria.  After opening remarks by the Ambassador, many photos were taken in the exquisite grounds of the Ukrainian Embassy.  We all felt at home.

Thursday, August13:
Quarter final day at the tournament. The four group winners Austria, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Croatia faced the 2nd place finishers Ireland, Denmark, Georgia, and Switzerland respectively.

Ukarine hosted Georgia for the right to enter the semi-finals on Saturday.  Georgia scored the first the first two runs in the 4th on a two out bloop hit that center fielder Taran should have caught for the third out.  The third run of the inning scored on a wild pitch by Gluhiy.  Georgia added its final run in the seventh to take a 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 2nd and 3rd with no outs.  Wild pitches by the Georgian pitcher allowed two runs to score to close the gap to 4-2.  This was not enough. Ukraine lost 4-2.

The Georgian pitcher pitched a masterful complete game striking out 11, walking none, and allowing only 4 hits.

Our pitcher Gluhiy hurled 6 innings, gave up 8 hits, 1 walk, 5 strike outs, and all 4 runs to take Ukraine's first loss.  With this crucial loss, Ukraine is relegated to play in the 5th to 8th place round.  A bitter disappointment for favored Ukraine, but play on we must.

Friday August 14:  Ukraine once again faces Switzerland.

A saddened Ukraine team scores the only run that it needs to win when Ruslan Deykun hits a sacrifice fly to score Arthur Tsarenko ( Kirovograd).  Deykun had three runs batted to power Ukraine to a 10-0 shutout over the Swiss.  Makarov (Kyiv) pitched a complete game for the victory.

Saturday August 15:
Team Ukraine has an off day.  My wife, Alexandra, and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary by visiting Bratislava, Slovakia.  Our dinner at the Red Lobster, no relation to the one in the States, was so, so delicious.   I recommend the " Carpathian Special".

Sunday August 16:
Denmark hosts Ukraine for 5th place at the European Senior Championships.

Ukraine came to play.  There would be no holding back.  We scored early and often to explode past Denmark 25 to 6.  Every player on the 18 player roster had a chance to bat.  Our 23 hit attack was lead by Taran and Tsarenko with 4 hits each.   Skatkov had 4 RBI's to lead Ukraine to a Fifth place finish in the tournament.

Semenov pitched 4 innings allowing 4 runs before being relieved by Trofimenko.  Trofi earned the victory in relief.

Summary:
Ukraine finished with a record of 5-1, second best in the games.  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.

Team Ukraine coaching staff: Basil P. Tarasko, (New York, USA), Oleg Boiko, (Kirovograd), Yuriy Boiko, (Kirovograd), and Mykola Gluhiy, (Symferopil).

Head of the Delegation: Vitaliy Lizogubenko, Executive Director of the Ukraine Baseball Federation.

Reporting:
Basil P. Tarasko, Member of the Executive Board of the Ukrainian Sports Club of New York (YCK). Member of USCAK, Ukrainian Sports Federation of the United States and Canada.