Ochoa, Galvan homer as Spain defeats South Africa

Spain got the first win of the WBSC Baseball Europe/Africa Qualifier thanks to a 7-1 victory over South Africa. Ricardo Hernandez pitched eight innings allowing only one run. Blake Ochoa hit the go-ahead grand slam in the fifth inning while Lesther Galvan homered in the eight.

‘’Today we played together, and we got an important win. Tomorrow against the Netherlands we have to play as we did today’’ commented Blake Ochoa.

After a 20 minutes rain delay, the game started and South Africa took an early lead. In the second inning, Brandon Bouillon reached on an error, and Hein Robb walked. With two outs, Brett Willemburg hit an RBI single. In the same frame, South Africa had the opportunity to increase the lead, but it didn’t. With bases loaded, Anthony Phillips stroke out swinging.

Spain overturned the result in the fourth inning. Oscar Angulo opened the frame with a hit. Jesus Ustartiz singled, but he was out at second. Then, Lesther Galvan plated Angulo home with a base hit. Jesus Martinez singled again, and Yancarlo Franco walked. With bases loaded, Blake Ochoa blasted a grand slam to deep left field to make 5-1.

‘’In that at-bat, I was looking for a good pitch to drive an RBI’’ added Blake Ochoa. ‘’The ball was right there, and it was a perfect pitch to hit. I reacted, and I hit the grand slam’’.

Spain added two runs in the final episodes. In the seventh inning, Leomartires Rodriguez doubled, and Engel Beltre singled through the left side. Then, Angulo hit a sacrifice fly to score Rodriguez.

One frame later, Lesther Galvan homered to deep left field to make 7-1.

Ricardo Hernandez went eight innings and earned the win, before handing the ball to Fernando Baez for the final three outs. On the other side, Jared Elario took the loss.