- Ryan Kurtzer
Ryan Kurtzer, born in
England , is an International Baseball player who plays for theGreat Britain national baseball team .In 2008, Kurtzer played in the European Championship Qualifier held in
Antalya ,Turkey [http://competition.baseballeurope.com/2008/antalya/games/lgplyrs.htm#leagp.ldr] and led the Great Britain team to the Championship round against theUkraine and Great Britain's highest finish ever, a Silver Medal. He batted .353 with one home run (hit against the Ukraine), scored nine runs and had five stolen bases. He was the only British player to hit safely in all five games.While pitching he earned the only save of the tournament in a one run game against eventual third place finisher
Romania where he came on in the 8th (extra) inning and struck out three. Kurtzer also pitched three innings against the national team fromBulgaria where he gave up one hit, did not allow a run and struck out seven. At the plate againstTurkey he was 2-for-3, scored four runs, had three RBIs and had two stolen bases. His ground-rule double in the 4th inning easily cleared the right field fence.Kurtzer finished the tournament tied for first in
runs scored (9), tied for second indoubles (2), third inhome runs (1), tied for third intotal bases (11), fourth inslugging percentage (.647), tied for fifth in hits (6). His pitching stats were tied for first inERA (0.00), first insaves (1), and tied for fifth in batters stuck out (10).In 2007, Kurtzer played in the European Championship Qualifier that was held in
Calabria ,Italy [http://competition.baseballeurope.com/2007/reggio/games/lgplyrs.htm#leagp.ldr] . He posted the second highestbatting average for the tournament at .467. He also finished fouth in slugging percentage (.533), seventh inon-base percentage (.500), tied for fourth in hits (7) and tied for sixth intotal bases (8). All of these were Great Britain team highs for the tournament.In 2006, Kurtzer represented Great Britain in the 4th annual Kenko International Tournament that was held in
Rho , Italy [http://www.fibs.it/cnc/tornei/baseball/2006/mundialito/gT.asp?d=CB_gbr] . During this tournament he was the winning pitcher when his team beat the national team from Slovenia 7-4. Kurtzer pitched six of the seven innings, giving up three earned runs and striking out five. Slovenia beat Ryan’s Great Britain team earlier in the tournament by a score of 12-3 and later in the tournament by a score of 21-9.In 2004, Kurtzer represented Great Britain in the 2nd annual Kenko International Tournament that was held in
Nettuno , Italy [http://www.fibs.it/cnc/baseball/2004/nettuno/tr.asp?d=rag_granb] . During this tournament he was the only Great Britain catcher to throw a runner out who attempted to steal and was tied on the team for the most hits for the tournament (4).Kurtzer’s career International
fielding percentage is .882 (76 chances, 67 putouts and assists).References
* [http://competition.baseballeurope.com/2008/antalya/games/lgplyrs.htm#leagp.ldr Baseball Europe 2008 European Championship Qualifier]
* [http://competition.baseballeurope.com/2007/reggio/games/lgplyrs.htm#leagp.ldr Baseball Europe 2007 European Championship Qualifier]
* [http://www.fibs.it/cnc/tornei/baseball/2006/mundialito/gT.asp?d=CB_gbr Federation of Italian Baseball/Softball 2006 Kenko Tournament]
* [http://www.fibs.it/cnc/baseball/2004/nettuno/tr.asp?d=rag_granb Federation of Italian Baseball/Softball 2004 Kenko Tournament]
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