The cities of Dornbirn and Hard in Vorarlberg, the far western state of Austria, hosted four national teams over the weekend in the inaugural Alpine International Baseball Trophy. Organised by Austrian Baseball Softball Federation, its national team was joined by Germany, Slovakia, and Switzerland in a round-robin tournament over May 23–25. Deutschland Baseball swept through the event with three wins, while Austria finished second.
Germany posted three convincing wins, dispatching Austria and Switzerland in seven innings before Slovakia jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the middle of the third. The Slovakian baseball nine still held a 5-2 advantage in the bottom of the seventh, before Germany posted five runs to surge ahead. The highest-ranked nation in the competition outscored opponents 34–5 in three games.
Austria’s Felix Stephan went 4-for-6 with two doubles and two walks to slash .667/.750/1.000, while Jacob Ritter was super for Slovakia, hitting .636/.692/.727 with a tournament-leading seven hits in 11 at bats. Germany’s Jules Moser scored six runs as part of a .375/.538/.875 showing, hitting one of the three home runs in the event. The others came from the bats of Österreich’s Moritz Riedmann, who had a double, a triple, and a dinger in three games, and Julian Faulhaber. Kenny Fermín (.455/.538/.818) and Simon Keimes (.462/.429/.769) also excelled for Germany, while Darrion Richard led the tournament in stolen bases (4), scored five runs, drew three walks, and collected a double and two singles for the victors (.273/.467/.364).
Philipp Kleehaupt (Germany) and Samuel Deák (Slovakia) each turned in a dominant pitching performance. Kleehaupt drew the start against the hosts and punched out eight in four shutout innings, permitting only a double and two walks in that time. Meanwhile, the Slovakian right-hander shut down the Swiss, topping the Alpine International Baseball Trophy in strikeouts (11) and innings (6.1), allowing two unearned runs on a single while working around six walks.
It is unknown if the event was sanctioned by the WBSC and, therefore, whether any world ranking points were available.
Final Standings
| Team | W-L | RF | RA |
| Germany | 3-0 | 34 | 5 |
| Austria | 2-1 | 27 | 16 |
| Slovakia | 1-2 | 18 | 22 |
| Switzerland | 0-3 | 3 | 39 |
Results [Link]
May 23
Switzerland 2 – Slovakia 12 (7)
Germany 14 – Austria 0 (7)
May 24
Germany 11 – Switzerland 0 (7)
Slovakia 1 – Austria 11 (8)
May 25
Slovakia 5 – Germany 9
Switzerland 1 – Austria 16 (5)