Day 3 at the 14th WBSC Men’s Softball World Championship

Today’s 7 Wonders of the Worlds

1. Pablo Figuereo – Guatemalan RF – went 3 for 4 with a homerun in his team’s big win over Mexico.
2. Kim Hansen gave up only one hit, while recording 14 strikeouts in Denmark’s 2-0 win over Netherlands. He leads the championship with 31 K’s.
3. Sean Cleary – Canada’s pitcher – held the powerful Black Sox from New Zealand to four hits in his team’s 2-1 win.
4. Naoaki Kawada came into the game in the bottom of the 2nd for one at-bat and hit a three run triple in Japan’s 5-4 win over USA.
5. Steve Mullaley accounted for both of Canada’s runs in their 2-1 win over New Zealand. In the bottom of the 6th he sent a shot over the right field fence for the game winner.
6. Luis Folgar from Guatemala went 2 for 3 with a single and a home run in their win over Philippines.
7. Pablo Figuereo from Dominican Republic was on base four times. He went 3 for 4 with a homerun in their 4-3 win over Mexico.

Game Summaries

Game 17: Denmark vs Netherlands 2-0

The fans were excited and very noisy in the first game of the day as Denmark and Netherlands renewed the rivalry they formed in the European Men’s Championship. Denmark had Netherlands number in that event beating them twice by seven runs including in the semi-final game.

Although the Dane’s did not put up as many runs in this game, their pitcher Kim Hansen had things well in hand, giving up only one hit, while recording 14 strikeouts. The difference in the game was two unearned Denmark runs scored without the benefits of a hit. They advanced runners in almost every other way however, including stolen base by Kim Hansen, three pass balls and an error. That was all Hansen needed as he allowed only four base runners, two of which got into scoring position.

Game 18: Guatemala vs Philippines 4-0

In the first game of the day at Gordie Howe Park, Jose Segura returned to circle for Guatemala after a tough outing against Canada. He earned some redemption throwing a five hit shutout while striking out 14 Philippines batters. He got most of his support courtesy of the long ball as Amilcar Estrada hit a two run shot in the 3rd and Luis Folgar hit a solo shot in the 4th. Ten different Guatemalan batters spread out their team’s 12 hits. Isidro Abello squeezed out a pair of hits for the Philippines.

Game 19: Dominican Republic vs Mexico 4-3

These two teams last faced each other in November at the Central American and Caribbean Games (CACG). Mexico eliminated Dominican Republic 6-4 on their way to final which they lost 1-0 to Venezuela. The Dominicans were confident after a couple of wins and a tight 6-4 loss to the USA led them to the matchup with the winless Mexicans.

The first three runs were solo homers by: Dominican Republic’s Pablo Figuereo and Mexico’s Reuben Delgadillo and Allan Salgado. In the top of the 4th, Dominican Republic loaded the bases with no outs, thanks to a single and a pair of walks given up by Eduardo Escobedo. Escobedo regrouped with the pressure on, calmly struck out Melvin Cruz and Freddy Moreta and got Starlin Rosario to pop up in the infield.

After surviving the top of the inning, Mexico pushed one more run home in the bottom of the inning thanks to a Marco Gonzales double. The Mexicans could not hold the lead thanks to huge 7th inning Dominican rally. Things went from bad to worse for them as Engel Santana led off with a walk and was followed by a double from Randy Alvarez and a triple from Jose Bueno to tie the score. Following a putout, Vueno scored the winning run on a Pablo Figuereo single.

Game 20: Czech Republic vs. Great Britain 4-2

In this game, the European champions – Czech – was looking to send a message to the challengers from Great Britain. Tomas Benda helped their cause by hitting a two run homer bringing in David Mertl in the top of the 1st. In the bottom of the 2nd, James Darby got the Brits a little closer with a dinger of his own. In the top of the 3rd, a Kaerl Kadecka triple scored Benda and Vaclav Svoboda. In the bottom of the 5th, Darrin Newson got Great Britain one run closer with a solo shot, but they could get no closer against Czech starter Jaroslav Brenik who ended with four hits.

Game 21: New Zealand vs Canada 1-2

A packed house battled the 32 degree C heat to take in this huge game in Pool A. The undefeated Canadians were facing a hungry squad from New Zealand who feared a second loss would prevent them from getting two lives in the playoffs. Following the traditional Haka, both teams entered a stare down. Coach John Stuart in the press conference after made it clear they were not going to stand down and be intimidated by the Kiwis. The situation ended respectfully as both teams slowly walked backwards away from each other, but Canada had made their point.

Sean Cleary took the circle to face Kiwi veteran Heini Shannon and both of them looked good early. In the bottom of the 3rd, Canada loaded the bases with two outs as a result of interesting decision to walk Brad Ezekiel to get to cleanup hitter Steve Mullaley. It worked out for Shannon, as he struck out Mullaley looking ending the threat. In the top of the 5th , the Kiwi’s found themselves with runners on 1st and 2nd and two outs. Young Cole Evans hit a hard shot to deep right center that CF Ryan Wolfe made a nice play on to end the threat. On his way around the bases Jerome Raemaki showed some anger at Cleary and the benches cleared for a short time. Cooler heads prevailed and the game continued without incident.

To start the bottom of the 6th, Kurt Schollum replaced Shannon in the circle. After another Ezekiel walk, Mullaley made up for his earlier loaded bases strikeout by hitting a mammoth shot over the right field fence to give Canada a two run lead. Schollum lasted only two more batters as he got an out but after a single to Jason Hill, Shannon returned. He got Ian Fehrman to hit into his second double play of the game to end the inning.

In the top of the 7th with one out, huge pinch hitter Wayne Laulu battled Cleary to a full count. Cleary who had refused to give in to hitters all day, piped one knowing they need two runs and it left the yard for New Zealand’s first run; Cleary responded well with a two big K’s to finish the game.

Game 23: United States vs Japan 4-5

Both these teams knew the importance of this game. A loss could take away any shot of a double playoff life with the very tough Australia and Venezuela in their pool. The Americans came into this game undefeated and Japan had split their two games losing a well-played effort to Australia.

All the action took place in back to back half innings. In a wild bottom of the 2nd, Japan scored five runs as a result of two big hits. The first was a two run shot by Masateru Matsuoka scoring Hikaru Matsuda who had singled. The second key play was Naoaki Kawada’s triple which scored Daishi Uramoto, Kota Mera and Takuro Hiramoto. The Americans responded immediately scoring four of their own without a big blast. A double by Chris Miljavac was the biggest shot and was followed by singles from Derrick Zechman and Chase Turner led to the big inning.

The pitchers settled down nicely after the two big half innings. Tony Mancha gave way to Gerald Muizelaar for the USA and Japanese starter Hikaru Matsuda gave up no more runs until he was replaced in the 6th. After the hit explosion, there were only two more hits registered in the game. The Japanese survived to go to 2-1 knowing that if they beat Venezuela tomorrow they have a good shot at an extra playoff life, while the Americans will hope to upset Australia and Venezuela to get in the top two.

Game 24: Venezuela vs Australia 1-5

In what is sure to be a huge game in Pool B, two medallist from the last world championship collided in the final game of the night. The Aussies got the jump with two in the first. Shaun Gofer hit a RBI single and Andrew Kirkpatrick scored a bases loaded walk by Nick Norton.

Venezuela knew runs were going to be hard to come by as they were facing Adam Folkard. However, Yeider Chirinos managed to put one out against him in the top of the 3rd. In the bottom of the 4th, the Aussies managed to scratch out an unearned run thanks to an error by 3B Iran Perez. In the bottom of the 5th, they scored two more as Kieran O’Leary scored on Nick Shalles double. Andrew Kirkpatrick scored on a sac fly by Nick Norton (who ended the game without a hit but two RBIs).