Tien-Mou/Taipei City. Venezuela is the first team to reach the semi-finals at the II 12U Baseball World Cup. On Friday morning they defeated Mexico 5-3 in a thrilling first act in the quarterfinals. A pair of doubles helped the South Americans to score five runs in the fourth and fifth to seal the deal. Mexico tried to rally in the sixth, but left the tying run stranded.
In a rematch of the 2011 Bronze Medal Game, Mexico looked poised to upset Venezuela early in the game. Once again Kevin Garcia set the tone, hitting the first pitch he saw in the second inning over the right field fence for a solo home run. They held on to their lead until midway through the fourth thanks to a strong start of Victor Perez, who struck out seven through the first three innings.
In the bottom of the fourth frame, the Venezuelan offense finally woke up. Carlos Fernandez got them ahead with a two-run double to right. He later also came around to score, thanks to Edwin Perez’ single. One inning later Sander Mora extended the advantage to 5-1 with another double.
Mexico didn’t go down without a fight. In the sixth Martin Olivas and Jesus Marrufo reached with a pair of one-out walks. An error at short on a groundball by Sebastian Polo brought Olivas home. Following a fly out by Omar Ballesteros also Marrufo scored when Victor Zazueta singled to left.
With the game on the line Venezuela’s coaching staff reacted and brought in ace Aaron Bracho to close it out. With Kevin Garcia on deck, who was 3-for-3 with a home run in the game, Jesus Castillo stepped to the plate. He was able to foul off a couple of pitches from the hard throwing right-hander, but eventually struck out swinging to end the game on an 80 MPH (128 KPH) fastball.
Venezuela now will face the winner of the Chinese Taipei –Korea matchup on Friday evening in the semi-finals on Saturday. Mexico has to settle for the consolation round.
