VII WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup Day 4: Dominican Republic beat USA in slugfest
Chinese Taipei and Venezuela remain undefeated at the top of Group A. They will face each other for first place in the final game of Day 5. Japan and Mexico will likely compete for the third spot available.
In Group B, the Dominican Republic outscored the United States. The two powerhouses now share second place behind undefeated Korea.
Day 4 Results
| Panama- New Zealand | 19-0 (4 innings) | BOX SCORE | GAME REPORT |
| Mexico-Australia | 14-0 (5 innings) | BOX SCORE | GAME REPORT |
| Venezuela-Japan | 7-1 | BOX SCORE | GAME REPORT |
| Korea-Czechia | 17-5 (5 innings) | BOX SCORE | GAME REPORT |
| Dominican Republic- USA | 13-9 | BOX SCORE | GAME REPORT |
| Chinese Taipei-Germany | 13-2 (5 innings) | BOX SCORE | GAME REPORT |
Dominican Republic-USA 13-9
The Dominican Republic took advantage of starter Julian Knudsen's wild first inning. Late in the night, the game became a slugfest, with both teams going deep with a grand slam. The Dominican Republic and the US are now in second place behind undefeated Korea in Group B.
Julian Knudsen was off to a wild start for the United States. He walked the first two batters and balked. The Dominican Republic took the lead on a groundout. Right fielder Gustavo Talmare singled to make it 2-0, and the third run scored on a bunt by left fielder Angel Peralta. The Dominicans made it 4-0 on a wild pitch. Reliever Kingston George also struggled with control. The Dominican Republic added two runs on a wild pitch and an error.
A walk and a wild pitch helped the Dominican Republic extend the lead to 7-0 in the bottom of the second.
The US got on the scoreboard in the top of the third as Tyler Early hit an RBI single off starter Enmanuel Reyes Cruz. Early advanced on the throw and scored thanks to an error and a wild pitch.
Centre fielder Kelvin Reyes hit a two-run homer off Nicholis Parker to make the score 9-2 in the bottom of the fourth.
In the top of the fifth USA cut the gap to 9-5 with a three-run rally. Gavin Gomez got to reliever Jefferson Guzman with a two-run homer.
USA fought until the end. Third baseman Zaylon Johnson came within one strike from being the final out, then got to Guzman's fifth pitch and drove it over the left field fence for a grand slam that cut the deficit to 13-9.
The Dominican Republic handed the ball to Rallyn Cabrera. The reliever allowed a two-strike base hit to Gavin Gomez and then got Boston Targac on strikes to end the game.
Chinese Taipei-Germany 13-2
Chinese Taipei scored eight runs in the first at-bat on its way to a five-inning win against Germany and reached Venezuela at the top of Group A.
With a runner at first and one out, Germany's starter Henk Lenhart walked two batters in a row. Chinese Taipei capitalised on that with four consecutive hits, a double by Yu-Yen and singles by Chang-Ruei Chen, Hao-Han Luo and Lei Yeh. Hung-Kai Chen hit a two-out double to cap the at-bat. Chinese Taipei led 8-0 in the middle of the first.
Germany took advantage of a throwing error to get on the scoreboard against Chang Ruei Chen in the bottom of the first, but the starting pitcher quickly took back what he allowed. Chen doubled in the top of the second, starting a rally that extended Chinese Taipei's lead to 11-1.
Chinese Taipei added two runs and allowed one, preventing more thanks to some effective defence.
Venezuela-Japan 7-1
Venezuela jumped ahead with solo homers by Alexandro Ladera and Ezequiel Lara in the bottom of the first. Dennis Quintero and Ezequiel Zamora limited Japan to one hit to help them remain undefeated.
Second baseman Alexandro Ladera and shortstop Ezequiel Lara hit solo homer of starter Haroki Tsuchiya to give Venezuela a quick lead in the bottom of the first.
Japan made it a one-run game in the top of the second, despite not getting a hit. Masaya Yabuuchi walked, advanced on a wild pitch by starter Dennis Quintero, reached third on a groundout and scored on a balk.
Right fielder Juan Conde scored the third Venezuelan run in the bottom half of the frame. He doubled and reached home on a base hit by first baseman Jheyslers Alayon.
Centre fielder Willy Rodriguez hit a one-out double in the bottom of the third. He reached third on a base hit by Zamora and scored Venezuela's fourth run on a groundout.
Back-to-back doubles by Ladera and Rodriguez off reliever Osuke Minaka extended Venezuela's lead to 7-1 in the bottom of the fifth.
Venezuela's starter Dennis Montero allowed only one hit and one walk in 4.2 innings. Zamora got the final four outs allowing only one walk. They both had support from a solid defence.
Korea-Czechia 17-5
Korea needed only one at-bat to break the score open. Down 15-0 after three, Czechia stayed in the game and, with a four-run fourth, prolonged the game into the fifth. Korea stayed undefeated on top of Group B.
Czech starter Adam Kupsky hit the first batter and walked the second. Korea thrived on that. Pitcher Beomjun Kim doubled them both home. He then scored on a groundout and a wild pitch. Kupsky allowed another walk, and then catcher Hajoon Lee and centre fielder Jinhwi Kim hit back-to-back home runs to make it 6-0.
A three-run homer by new pitcher Hanjun Kim off reliever Lukas Cermak capped a four-run second at-bat for Korea.
Korea won it in five innings, despite allowing four runs on a pair of errors in the fourth.
Mexico-Australia 14-0
Mexico got to Australia from the game's first pitch and cruised to an easy shutout win in five innings.
Second baseman Rodrigo Lopez singled on the very first pitch by left-hander Zavier Leigh. The Tricolores batted nine times in the first, scoring four runs on three hits, including a deep single off the wall by shortstop Esteban Gallardo.
Mexico broke the score open in the second, adding four runs on five consecutive two-out hits off Leigh and reliever Toby Kelman. Xavier Herrera and David Rodriguez hit back-to-back doubles.
Panama-New Zealand 19-0
Panama needed a win in the elimination game against New Zealand and powered their way to hit with a 16-run second. They got 11 hits in the at-bat, including three home runs. Starter Zaych Melendez pitched four perfect innings.
Catcher Alain Cruz, the third hitter of the game, homered off Braxton Segeev to give Panama the lead in the bottom of the first.
Panama opened the score in the bottom of the second. Matthew Flores hit a two-RBI single, and Javier Acevedo took Sergeev over the right field wall for a three-run homer.
Panama scored 16 runs in the second on 11 hits, including two-run home runs by Yuniesky Sanchez and Javier Acevedo
- On Day 3: Chinese Taipei, Venezuela, USA and Korea stay undefeated.
- On Day 2: Chinese Taipei walked off Japan, and Venezuela's Willy Hernandez threw a no-hitter.
- All Day 1 games were postponed because of bad weather
- The 12 managers previewed the tournament after the Technical Meeting on Thursday, 27 July.
- On 27 July, the City of Tainan introduced the Chinese Taipei National Team to the media.
- Huan Nan Financial Holdings supports the U-12 Baseball World Cup.
- The 12 participants through the history of the tournament.
- Tainan has 400 years of rich history.
