by USA Baseball
TAICHUNG – The United States 18U National Team used a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat Chinese Taipei, 3-1, on Tuesday afternoon at Taichung City Stadium. The game was the second of three exhibition games the teams are playing before the 2013 18U Baseball World Cup kicks off August 30.
“Our pitching staff carried us,” said Rob Cooper, manager of the 18U National Team. “They did what a great pitching staff needs to do, and that is hold us in there and give us an opportunity to win.”
Chinese Taipei struck first in the contest in the top of the third inning. With two outs, Li Lin singled and Kuo-Hao Wu doubled behind him to put the host country up, 1-0.
Californian Jack Flaherty (Burbank, Calif.) started on the mound for Team USA. The right-hander went three innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out three and not issuing a walk.
“I thought Jack pitched really well,” Cooper said. “He gave us a great quality start.”
Adam Haseley (Windermere, Fla.) came on in relief for Flaherty and continued the dominant pitching trend. The southpaw worked 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing just one hit while walking one and striking out one.
Down, 1-0, in the bottom of the seventh inning, Kel Johnson (Palmetto, Ga.) sparked the offense with a two-out double deep into the left-center gap. Two pitches later, Marvin Gorgas (East Hampton, Conn.) looped a single into right field as Johnson raced around to score and tie the game at 1.
An inning later, the Red, White and Blue lineup rallied again. After reliever Jacob Nix (Los Alamitos, Calif.) worked a 1-2-3 inning, Bryson Brigman (San Jose, Calif.) pinch-hit and reached on an error to lead off the inning. Trace Loehr (Milwaukie, Ore.) attempted a sacrifice bunt, but an errant throw allowed him to reach while Brigman advanced safely. After Scott Hurst (Glendora, Calif.) sacrificed the pair over, Michael Rivera (Venice, Fla.) and Keaton McKinney (Ankeny, Iowa) delivered back-to-back RBI singles to give the U.S. a 3-1 lead.
“It was refreshing to see the guys execute towards the end there,” Cooper said. “In the final innings you could see the players exhale a little bit, be themselves and just start playing the game. We did some great things execution-wise to get the win today, and I hope we build upon this.”
Cooper turned the ball over to Luis Ortiz (Sanger, Calif.) with the two-run lead in the ninth inning, and the right-hander worked an efficient five-pitch inning to notch the save.
Cooper continued his praise of the performance on the mound, saying, “The entire pitching staff did a great job. We got down, 1-0, but those guys kept us in a position to win the game late.”
Nix earned the win with 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief. He struck out two and walked two in the victory. Chinese Taipei’s Yun-Wen Chen was charged with the loss.
The two teams will meet again on Wednesday at 2 a.m. ET (2 p.m. local) at Taichung City Stadium for the final tuneup before the 2013 18U Baseball World Cup begins on Aug. 30.
