PANAMA CITY, Panama – The Super Round of the Pan American U-23 Baseball Championship 2017 has been set, as the field has been cut from 12 to 6 nations following an exciting five-day Opening Round that showcased the elite and competitive level of baseball’s strongest continent.
Group A: Host/No. 15 Panama finished atop a three-way tie with No. 6 Mexico and No. 16 Dominican Republic. All three nations finished the Opening Round with four wins and one loss. These three nations will now play head-to-head against top three from Group B in the Super Round.
Group B: No. 9 Venezuela won the group, with No. 11 Puerto Rico taking the second seed and No. 5 Cuba grabbing the third spot. All games among these three nations were very tightly contested, low-scoring games decided by two runs (VEN 2-0 CUB, VEN 3-1 PUR, PUR 3-1 CUB).
The top four nations — the Americas U-23 champion and 2nd to 4th Place finishers — will advance to the play for the world title at next year’s WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup.
For the Super Round, nations will carry over their Opening Round head-to-head records against each other, as wins/losses against eliminated nations are not considered. This is the same format applied in the WBSC Baseball World Cups.
Super Round Standings
- VEN 2-0 (defeated CUB and PUR)
- DOM 1-1 (defeated PAN, lost to MEX)
- MEX 1-1 (defeated DOM, lost to PAN)
- PAN 1-1 (defeated MEX, lost to DOM)
- PUR 1-1 (defeated CUB, lost to VEN)
- CUB 0-2 (Lost to PUR and VEN)
Super Round Schedule – Group A versus Group B
Wed, 29 Nov
- MEX v PUR at 2:00p
- DOM v VEN at 2:00p
- CUB v PAN at 7:00p
Thu, 30 Nov
- CUB v DOM at 2:00p
- MEX v VEN at 2:00p
- PUR v PAN at 7:00p
Fri, 1 Dec
- DOM v PUR at 2:00p
- CUB v MEX at 2:00p
- VEN v PAN at 7:00p
Saturday, 2 December, will be a rest day, before the Finals on Sunday.
Final Opening Round Standings
Group A |
Group B |
PAN 4-1 |
VEN 4-1 |
MEX 4-1 |
PUR 4-1 |
DOM 4-1 |
CUB 3-2 |
HON 2-3 |
BRA 2-3 |
CRC 1-4 |
COL 2-3 |
PER 0-5 |
ARG 0-5 |
No. 17 Colombia, No. 18 Brazil, No. 21 Argentina, No. 40 Peru, No. 65 Honduras and unranked Costa Rica will continue in the 7th-12 Place Round.