Home Runs, Extra-Innings, Pitching write Stories on Day 4

21/07/2013

Venezuela beats USA – Chinese Taipei prevails against Mexico at 12U Baseball World Cup

Taipei City. Day four at the II 12U Baseball World Cup in Taipei City saw home runs, extra innings and dominant pitching. The focus was on the evening’s clash between rivals USA and Venezuela, which was won by the latter thanks to an impressive performance on the mound. Earlier in the afternoon Chinese Taipei overcame a pair of Mexican home runs to rebound from Saturday’s loss.

Before Venezuela did it against the United States, Japan improved to 4-0 in the tournament in the morning game. However they needed two extra innings to defeat a strong Italian team on a walk-off hit. Europe still had reason to celebrate on Sunday. The Czech Republic and Russia picked up their first wins in event history, beating the Philippines respective Pakistan in the process.

Before taking Tuesday off, 12 of the 14 teams in the 12U Baseball World Cup will be back in action on Monday. In the morning Mexico and USA will try to rebound against the Philippines and Hong Kong. Panama takes on Pakistan. In the afternoon Italy and the Czech Republic will meet to determine the best squad from the old continent, as well as Russia is facing Korea. Brazil will round up the game day with a matchup against Japan.

Philippines 4 – Czech Republic 9

The Czech Republic captured its first win at the 12U Baseball World Cup with a 9-4 win in the morning game at Shing-Sheng Stadium on Sunday. The European Champion was paced by Anezka Bartonova and Ondrej Lochman on offense. Four runs in the second had given them an early and commanding lead.

Hong Kong 0 – Korea 20

Korea trumped Hong Kong 20-0 at Youth Park on Sunday morning. The Asian powerhouse scored 18 of the 20 runs in the last three frames. Four pitchers combined in a one-hit shutout. Six players crossed at least twice the plate with Ho Jun Kwon leading all with four runs.

Japan 4 – Italy 3

Japan needed a walk-off RBI single by Shota Sawamura in the bottom of the eighth and second extra inning to down Italy 4-3 in the first game on Sunday at Tien-Mou Stadium. Italy had used a pair of wild pitched to tie the contest in the top of the sixth, but missed out on completing the upset. Before tiring out in the end, reliever Tara Melassi earned A grades. She pitched the last five innings for Italy, shutting down the offense of the Group A leader.

Pakistan 6 – Russia 27

Russia didn’t show much mercy in a 27-6 drubbing over Pakistan in the afternoon at Youth Park. For Russia it was their first win in the event. Ten runs in the fifth blew the score wide open. Taras Bezhan drove in five, Artem Logvinov scored four times.

Chinese Taipei 4 – Mexico 2

Mexico kicked off their contest against host Chinese Taipei with a pair of first-inning solo homeruns by Omar Ballesteros and Kevin Garcia. But CT answered with four runs in the bottom half en route to a 4-2 victory. A missed catch at first base with two outs turned out to be very costly for Mexico.

Venezuela 3 – USA 2

In the evening Aaron Bracho brought the heat into Venezuela’s contest against the United States. He struck out nine batters in four scoreless two-hit, two-walk innings, touching 81 MPH and leading his team to a 3-2 win. Sergio Gutierrez drove in two in the second to give Venezuela an early lead. The US boys closed the loss out with a bang. Jakob Hines hit a mammoth two-run home run in the top of the sixth, which hopped over the actual stadium wall, 300-plus feet away from home plate.

Standings

Group A
1) Japan 4-0
2) Chinese Taipei 3-1
3) Brazil 2-1
4) Mexico 1-2
5) Italy 1-2
6) Czech Republic 1-3
7) Philippines 0-3

Group B
1) Venezuela 4-0
2) Korea 3-1
3) USA 2-1
4) Panama 1-2
4) Russia 1-2
4) Hong Kong 1-2
7) Pakistan 0-4

Schedule

Monday, July 22, 2013

10:00 Mexico – Philippines (Tien-Mou)
10:00 USA – Hong Kong (Shing-Sheng)
10:00 Panama – Pakistan (Youth Park)
14:00 Italy – Czech Republic (Tien-Mou)
14:00 Russia – Korea (Youth Park)
18:30 Brazil – Japan (Tien-Mou)
(local times)