Taiwan’s hopes of winning a third U-12 World Baseball Cup title were dashed last night after losing 10-4 to the US, who hammered the hosts in Tainan in the sixth inning.
The loss came despite a valiant homer in the bottom of the sixth by third-baseman Shen Wei-fan.
Both former champions appeared determined not to give up any ground early, as Taiwan pitcher Gau Sheng-kai and his US counterpart, Tyler Early, kept most batters at bay, giving up just two hits each in the first two innings.
Photo: CNA
The first action came in the third inning, after Gau allowed his first walk of Nicholis Parker. He then hit Early with a pitch, which Parker took as an opportunity to steal second base.
Leyland Henry then singled to right field, and Parker rounded third straight for home, but was called out for sliding in head-first. In the commotion, Early also made a beeline for home, but was tagged out by Wang Yu-hsiang.
The scoring drought ended in the top of the fourth, when US catcher Bryant Ju scored off an RBI single by Gavin Gomez, after Gau was replaced by Lei Yeh.
Gomez added another point to the board when he scored off a sacrifice fly by Greyson Wuis.
Taiwan tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, with Chiu Ya-en and Zheng Qi-en scoring off a hard-hit double by Shen.
The US retook the lead in the top of the fifth inning, as Hunter Raylen led the batters with a single. He then stole second while Yeh struck out Parker, and scored off a grounder by Early.
The US then stretched the lead to 10-2 in the sixth inning, as Henry homered with bases loaded to send Raylen, Parker and Early into home.
Shen’s homer in the bottom of the sixth also scored for Wang, for the hosts to finish 10-4.
Taiwan on Saturday was battered by the defending champions 11-3 in the final game of the super round.
They have lost to the US in the championship round in 2013, 2015 and 2017. Taiwan previously won the championship in 2011 and 2019.
In the early game, Venezuela overcame a series of back-and-forth leads to pip Japan 9-8 for the bronze medal.
The No. 2 team from Group A started the slugfest early, with second-at-bat Alexandro Ladera homering to deep right, sending himself and Angel Rondon across home plate. Japan then took the lead in the bottom of the second, racking up three runs.
Venezuela added two more in the third to retake the lead, but Japan held on with three runs in the bottom of the third.
The South American team grabbed two more runs in the top of the fifth and three in the top of the sixth. Japan nearly equalized the game in the bottom of the sixth, but could only come up with two more runs.
In addition to the home run, Ladera had four RBIs.
“I feel proud for helping my country to a bronze medal,” he told the World Baseball Softball Confederation Web site. “I will keep working hard to make my baseball dream come true.”
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