Super Round schedule announced for U-23 Baseball World Cup: Preview

MONTERREY, Mexico – The WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup® 2016 is now down to six nations, as the Super Round schedule has been revealed.

The second phase of the U-23 world championship will resume tomorrow (Thursday, 3 November) with the top three nations from Group A (No. 15 Panama, No. 3 Korea and No. 8 Mexico) battling the top three nations from Group B (No. 1 Japan, No. 15 Australia and No. 18 Nicaragua) over the next three days.

Only results between the ‘Super’ nations (including matches in the Opening Round) count toward the final Super Round standing.

The nations with the best standings at the end of the Super Round will play For The Title of World Champion on Sunday, 6 November, at 18:00 at Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey — home of LMB club Sultanes.

Worlds No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 7 Venezuela, No. 14 Czech Republic, No. 27 Argentina, No. 33 Austria and No. 36 South Africa have all been relegated to the Consolation Round to play for 7th to 12th place in the final standings.

SUPER ROUND PREVIEW

World No. 18 Nicaragua (away) vs No. 15 Panama (home) — 12:00 in Monterrey

Panama (2-0) opens the Super Round undefeated after having beaten Korea and Mexico.

Offense is the name of the game for Panama as they scored the second-most runs in the Opening Round with 45, one less than Japan.

They’re attack revolves around Gerald Josymar Chin Dixon who had eight RBI in the Opening Round and hit .286/.360/.619, while teammate Rodrigo Abdel Vigil Aguirre belted two home runs and had an OPS of 1.257.

Panama’s pitchers held opponents to a .172 batting average in the Opening Round and accumulated a 1.88 ERA over 42 and two-thirds innings.

Nicaragua enters the Super Round with two losses after having fallen to Japan and Australia in a one-run game in the Opening Round.

Cesar Javier Diaz Molina is the centerpiece of their offense as he hit .471/.500/.941 with an incredible OPS of 1.441, and added two home runs and 11 RBI in the Group Stage.

World No. 3 Korea (visitor) vs No. 1 Japan (home) –18:00 in Monterrey

The Japanese National Team enters the Super Round having outscored their opposition 58-8 leading the tournament in both most runs scored and fewest runs allowed.

They feature a balanced offense hitting .410 collectively, with seven of their players with ten at-bats or more hitting at least .300.

Kengo Takeda leads the way with a .579 batting average, a home run and nine RBI, with Yusuke Masago not far behind at .476 with two home runs and a tournament leading 12 RBI.

Japan’s pitchers have been equally as impressive, maintaining an ERA of 1.38 while striking out 46 batters through 37 2/3 inning. Starting pitchers Daiki Aoyama, Keisuke Honda and Akitoshi Katsuno have yet to allow an earned run.

Korea nearly pulled off a perfect record in the Opening Round suffering just one loss at the hands of Panama on the final day of the round.

Starting pitching has been Korea’s strength highlighted by Chaehueng Choi whose 1.26 ERA over two starts (14.1 innings) leads the way.

Korea spread their offense around in the Opening Round hitting .331 as a team. Four Korean National Team players had seven hits in five Opening Round games, including Taehun Lee who had two home runs and six RBI to lead the team.

World No. 8 Mexico (away) vs No. 13 Australia (home) — 18:00 in Saltillo

Like Korea, Australia carried a perfect record into the final day of the Opening Round before falling to Japan.

Australia allowed the most runs against out of the six Super Round nations, but did receive strong performances from starters Nicholas Hutchings and Christopher Horne who both picked up wins.

Offense has not been an issue for Australia who scored 39 runs and hit seven home runs in five games — with Jacob Younis, Guy Edmonds and Connor Macdonald collecting two each. Younis leads the team with a .500 batting average and added six RBI and three stolen bases to his stat total.

Host Mexico enters the Super Round with two losses but is on a two game winning streak after blowout wins over the Czech Republic and South Africa.

Mexico has pitched well accumulating a team ERA of 1.80 and holding opponents to a .221 batting average. Mexico’s pitching staff has been very active, as 10 of their National Team pitchers have thrown two innings or more.

Offensively, Gilberto Carrera Yañez is tied for the tournament lead with 11 hits as he’s hitting .550 (11-for-20) with four doubles, four RBI and six runs scored.