Taiwan routed Mexico 17-5 in seven innings in their final preliminary game of the IBAF 18U Baseball World Cup at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night to end with a 4-1 record and a second-seed berth in today’s semi-finals.
Initially, the hosts dug themselves into a 0-4 hole as Mexico jumped all over Taiwanese starter Chen Yun-wen with four quick runs in the top of the first. However, the deficit lasted less than an inning as Taiwan’s offense capitalized on slipups by Mexico to plate six runs on the strength of two hits, four walks and a pair of wild pitches and errors to make it 6-4.
That was as close as Mexico got as the Taiwan batters continued their dominance by putting up at least two runs in all but one of the next five innings en route a blowout win.
Four different hitters had multi-hit games on the night for Taiwan, led by Lin Li’s 3-for-4 hitting with four RBIs and Liang Chia-jung’s three-RBI effort.
Picking up the win was Yang Chia-wei whose 2-2/3 innings of one-hit relief kept Mexico off the score board when it mattered most. Yang entered in the third with the bases loaded and one out, and induced an inning-ending double play to keep the damage to a minimum.
JAPAN 7, CANADA 5
Overcoming an early four-run deficit, undefeated Japan scored six unanswered runs to edge past Canada in their final preliminary game at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon.
The win gave Japan a top-seed berth out of Group A in today’s semi-finals with a perfect 5-0 record.
Daisuke Yamaoka came out of the Japan bullpen in relief of starter Kazuto Taguchi, who fell behind 1-5 after three innings and tossed 3-2/3 scoreless innings of one-hit ball to give his offense time for a comeback.
Yamaoka was credited with the win for his outstanding relief while the loss went to Canada’s Cal Quantrill.
Yesterday’s other scores:
‧ Venezuela 6, Czech Repub. 2
‧ South Korea 17, Italy 4 (8th)
‧ USA 12, Colombia 6
‧ Australia 2, Cuba 3
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