TAICHUNG, Taiwan – Undefeated Chinese Taipei – the No. 4 baseball nation in the world — got past a defensively sharp and 28th-ranked Nicaragua, blanking the representative from the Americas, 2-0, in the penultimate day of the Super Round Robin of the inaugural 21U Baseball World Cup.

No. 28 Nicaragua’s performance in Taichung has demonstrated to all other nations competing at the 21U showcase – and those nations and fans following the global event – that Nicaragua is capable of competing with the best in the world, which was highlighted earlier this summer when the Nicaraguan 12U National Team defeated top-ranked USA to become champions of all the Americas in the youth category, qualifying for the III 12U Baseball World Cup in Taiwan in July 2015.

In the match last night, Chinese Taipei used outstanding pitching by starter Chen Ming-hsuan and reliever Peng Shih-ying.

With the game locked in a scoreless battle through the first five innings, with each team’s defense flashing the leather, Chinese Taipei slugger Yang Tai-chun took things into his own hands and launched a solo home run off Nicaragua starter Horace Rigby in the bottom of the sixth.

“I knew I had a chance the minute the ball left the bat,” Yang told a group of reporters.

Chinese Taipei added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, which would be the final run produced in the tightly contested match, which featured diving plays, 21 groundouts and no errors on defense.

In Saturday’s Super Round Robin contest, Chinese Taipei and Japan – both undefeated – will face off, with the winner earning the right to be home team for Sunday’s gold medal finale.

Also yesterday, Japan prevailed in an intense 1-0 battle with South Korea to earn the Samurai a place in the finale.

Saturday’s opening pitch between Chinese Taipei and Japan is scheduled for 12:30 pm local time.

In Friday’s other Super Round Robin contest, Australia beat the Czech Republic 9-4.

While the gold medal match has been set, today’s Super Round Robin contests will determine who plays in bronze medal and 5th – 6th match-ups.

A total of 11 National Teams are participating in the first ever Baseball World Cup for players 21 years of age or younger.

The 21U showcase features players representing their countries from top professional leagues, such as the Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Mexican Baseball League (LMB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).