After having suffered a tight, tense
loss to rival Venezuela by one run on Friday, Colombia made sure everything was
working for its third game of the U-23 World Cup.
Boosted by a seven-run top of the fourth inning, world No. 15 Colombia rolled over No. 8 the Netherlands in a run-rule victory, cruising to a 10-0 win in six innings on Saturday afternoon in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.
Colombia’s offense got on the board in
the third inning when leadoff man Gustavo Campero -- on the way to a four-hit
game -- doubled to right-center with one out, stole second, and scored on
Jordan Diaz’s groundout to third.
One inning later, the floodgates opened.
Colombia sent 11 men to the plate and scored seven of them with the big blow in
the inning coming courtesy of Jesus Marriaga’s two-run homer to right field. In
addition to Marriaga, Brayan Buelvas, Rafael Romero, Campero and Diaz all drove
in runs in the inning, and Leandro Emiliani reached twice, singling to open the
frame and walking again later as the 10th man to the dish.
The world No. 15 put the game away in
the sixth. After Campero singled up the middle for his fourth hit to lead off
the inning, Marriaga was hit by a pitch two batters later, and the pair
advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch thrown by Netherlands reliever
Jasper Elfrink. Emiliani then singled through the right side of the infield to
plate his team’s ninth and tenth runs.
In the bottom of the sixth, Colombia
starter Luis Moreno finished off a masterful complete game, retiring the side
in order. In his six innings, Moreno scattered three singles and racked up
seven strikeouts without issuing a walk, throwing 46 of his 64 pitches for
strikes.
On Sunday, the Netherlands is back in
action against Panama at 10:30 while Colombia will square off with Nicaragua
from 15:00 at Estadio Sonora in Hermosillo.