All 11 teams competing in the Under-21 IBAF Baseball World Cup got a well-deserved break yesterday after having played up to five games in as many days in the preliminaries of the tournament.
Taiwan and Japan won their respective groups unbeaten and so carried the points equivalent of two victories into Super Round Robin play, where they both won their opening games. Nicaragua and South Korea carried through 1-1 records, while Australia and the Czech Republic have 0-2 records.
The contest’s format favors the teams who post the best record in the preliminaries as an incentive for squads to play their best players early, as opposed to “hiding their aces” in an effort to conceal their true strength.
The format also lessens the burden on teams who drop a game after the preliminary round, as places in Sunday’s three finals — between the first and second-placed teams; the third and fourth; and the fifth and sixth — are determined by the total points earned in the Super Round Robin.
Should Taiwan and Japan both win their next two games, the showdown between the two on Saturday should be a preview of Sunday night’s title game.
“With the big victory over South Korea, we are confident that we have a chance to reach the title game and perhaps win the tournament,” Taiwan skipper Kuo Lee Chien-fu said this week.
At the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium this evening, Taiwan face feisty Australia, who led Japan after eight innings of play before faltering in the ninth to fall to a narrow 9-7 loss in their Super Round Robin opener, while the afternoon game is to pit Japan against the Czech Republic in what should be an easy win for the Asian side against their European rivals.
In the remaining game, Nicaragua are to take on South Korea.
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