Canada, USA, Venezuela in control of their Olympic baseball destinies

After Day 2 of round-robin play of the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier in Florida, undefeated squads Canada and Venezuela will play a pivotal contest to close Group B, with Colombia and Cuba out of the running. Canada and Venezuela's result will carry over into the Super Round.

The United States (2-0) qualified into the Super Round out of Group A, with a win over the Dominican Republic (1-1), who will meet Nicaragua (1-1) in essentially a knockout game. For Puerto Rico (0-2) the Olympic dream is over, but the squad will face USA before departing the tournament.

Day 2 Recap

Facing new Venezuela reliever Gabriel Moya and down 2-1 in the ninth inning, Colombia third baseman Jordan Diaz blasted a game-tying homer to left field. Colombia's celebration was short-lived, as Diego Rincones' walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth kept undefeated Venezuela in control of their own destiny, while knocking out Colombia, 3-2.

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Nicaragua defeated Puerto Rico, 7-6, in 10 innings, after Puerto Rico jumped out to a 5-2 lead, highlighted by a Jesmuel Valentin home run, which answered Nicaragua's home run by Luis Alen. Both bullpens cruised through the middle innings, but Nicaragua’s offense got going again in the top of the eighth, tying the game, 5-5. Nicaragua made the most of the WBSC international tie-break rule and scored two runs.

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Canada got off to a quick start, scoring three in the first against Carlos Viera and held on to defeat Cuba, 6-5. Major League Baseball (MLB) veteran reliever John Axford took the mound in the ninth to stop Cuba's comeback attempt. Cuba is out of the Olympic tournament for the first time since baseball became a medal sport in 1992.

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The US defeated Dominican Republic, 8-6, taking charge of the game early. But the Dominican Republic reversed the lead in the sixth on a home run by third baseman Diego Goris. The US took the lead back with a four-run sixth inning, highlighted by a two-run triple by left fielder and leadoff hitter Luke Williams. DR's Juan Francisco led off the ninth with his second home run of the night, but the US held off the comeback attempt.

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