USA Baseball claims Olympic ticket, Venezuela and Dominican Republic have another chance in WBSC Final Qualifier

World No. 2 United States went undefeated in the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier to join No. 1 Japan, No. 3 Korea, No. 5 Mexico and No. 18 Israel at the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games tournament.

The sixth and final participating National Team will come out of the WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier, scheduled from 22 to 26 June in Puebla, Mexico.

The second- and third-place teams of the Americas qualifier, world No. 8 Venezuela and No. 10 Dominican Republic, will face No. 6 Australia and No. 9 Netherlands in Mexico for the final berth. Baseball Canada's Olympic dream has come to an end.

On the final day of the Americas Qualifier, the US defeated Venezuela, 4-2. Venezuela got an early lead against USA starter Matthew Liberatore when Hernán Pérez homered in the third. Eric Filia provided a two-run homer off Venezuela's starter, Anibal Sanchez, to regain the lead once and for all. A double and a home run by third baseman Todd Frazier extended the USA lead. Edwin Jackson earned the win, pitching two perfect innings, and David Robertson got the save, getting the final three outs.

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The Dominican Republic beat Canada, 6-5, to keep their Olympic dream alive. Canada's bats were all over Dominican starter Raul Valdes in the first. Eric Wood triples, Daniel Pinero homered, and Canada took a 3-0 lead. Valdes would allow only one more run, setting up the Dominican comeback. Hits by Gustavo Nunez and Julio Rodriguez put the Dominican Republic ahead in the bottom of the eighth, and Jairo Asencio struck out the side in the ninth to record the save.

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