Colombia’s first three wins in Opening
Round play had been routs. Their fourth one was as tight ac possible.
World No. 15 Colombia wrapped up a strong Opening Round with a 5-4 win over No. 2 Korea, finishing off the group stage of the U-23 Baseball World Cup at 4-1 to move on to the Super Round beginning Wednesday in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.
Seeking its second win of the Opening
Round before heading to the Placement Round in Obregón, Korea captured the
game’s first lead on Monday night with two runs crossing gin the bottom of the
second inning on a two-out double to left field by catcher Jun Ho Yun, but
Colombia rallied to pull even with a run in the third on a Korea error rand a
leadoff homer by Leandro Emiliani in the fourth.
In the fifth, Colombia grabbed the
advantage for the first time when Jesus Marriaga and Emiliani walked with two
outs and scored on Brayan Buelvas’s triple to deep right-center field.
Korea responded with two runs of its own
in the fifth to retie the score on a sacrifice fly by Jung Hyun Park plating
Yun and a wild pitch that scored Sung Hun Lee, but those tallies were the final
ones of the Opening Round for the 2018 U-23 fourth-place finishers.
Colombia scored the game’s decisive
tally in the top of the sixth. With one out and runners at the corners, Gustavo
Campero singled through the right side to score Fabian Pertuz and give Colombia
the lead.
Prior to Monday night, Colombia had
outscored opponents by a combined margin of 27-1 in its three victories including
run rule wins over the Netherlands and Nicaragua. Against Korea, its pitching
staff came up big in the end. Sergio Palacio earned the win with two hitless
innings of relief that ended on five straight strikeouts. Jhon Peluffo saw a
man reach on a throwing error charged to third baseman Jordan Diaz but allowed
no damage in the seventh to secure ethe save.
Along with Venezuela and Panama, Colombia is now on to the Super Round where those three nations, the top finishers from Group B, will face the top three teams from Group A beginning Wednesday at Estadio Sonora in Hermosillo. Korea will travel to Obregón along with the Netherlands and Nicaragua to open Placement Round action against the bottom three teams from Group A on Wednesday.
