Three years ago, Venezuela captured
bronze in the U-23 Baseball World Cup. Tomorrow, they will play for gold.
Behind timely hitting and baserunning, world No. 10 Venezuela finished the Super Round with another victory, 5-2 over No. 3 Chinese Taipei, to take a 7-1 overall record and 4-1 Super Round mark into the World Championship Final on Saturday at Estadio Sonora.
Entering Thursday afternoon’s game in a
tie for first place with Colombia, Venezuela was thrown for a curve prior to
first pitch against Chinese Taipei when scheduled starter Wikelman Ramirez was
scratched. Henry Medina, pressed into spot-starting duty, made the most of his
assignment after getting some early run support.
Venezuela got started in the second when
Romer Cuadrado reached on an error charged to Chinese Taipei third baseman
Sheng-Hsien Chen to lead off the frame and Juan Fernandez walked behind him.
Two batters later, Jose Sibrian poked an RBI double down the right field line,
and three batters after that, Carlos Rodriguez reached on a two-out fielder’s
choice to drive in Fernandez.
Medina pitched into the third and
departed after 2 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and one unearned run. Wei-Chih
Suh reached on an error charged to Venezuela third baseman Justin Lopez leading
off the third and scored on Wen-Han Chang’s RBI groundout to third three
batters later. Medina struck out a pair without any walks in his spot start.
After Chinese Taipei’s first run, Venezuela responded on the first pitch of the bottom of the third when Robert Perez blasted a leadoff homer to left-center.
Chinese Taipei answered with a run on Su’s two-out single in the fourth, but that was as close as the visitors would get. Venezuela added two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning with Antonio Pinero’s RBI single capping his team’s scoring for the day.
Behind Medina, four Venezuela relievers
combined to deal 3 2/3 innings of solid ball, allowing one run on three hits
and striking out seven against two walks. Hector Rodriguez struck out all four
batters he faced in the sixth and seventh to earn the win while Carlos Valero
earned the save by getting the final two outs of the game.
Chinese Taipei finished the World Cup overall at 4-4 including a 1-4 mark against Super Round teams.
"The preparation to this tournament was not easy for us and you could tell it from our hitting," said manager Shih-hsin Wu. "Our hitters struggled early, then they got better, day by day. I think we can be really satisfied with the pitching."
Venezuela now awaits the winner of Friday night’s Colombia-Mexico matchup which will be its opponent in Saturday’s World Championship Final.
"They are both strong teams and worked hard to be in the position they are now. We know they both would be formidable competitors. I think the fans will enjoy a great final," commented Venezuela's manager Carlos Garcia.
