Taiwan on Saturday clinched a hard-earned extra-inning victory over Panama to advance to yesterday’s bronze medal game of the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup in Hermosillo, Mexico.
Taiwan manager Tseng Wei-cheng credited the 5-4 win to Taiwan’s pitchers for limiting Panama’s offense in the super-round game.
Although he acknowledged that Taiwan’s offense was relatively sluggish with only five hits in seven innings, Tseng praised their timely hits in the extra inning and pitcher Yang Shan-tung’s performance in closing the game.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association via CNA
“Our offense is warming up and players are now having more stable outings as we get deeper into the tournament. We are eyeing the bronze medal tomorrow,” Tseng told reporters.
The game was tied 3-3 at the conclusion of the seventh inning, sending the teams into an extra inning to determine a winner.
In the top of the eighth, two consecutive hits by Huang Tien-ssu and Ku Ting-hsuan gave Taiwan one run to break the deadlock before an RBI sacrifice fly by Wang Hsing-kai widened the lead to 5-3.
In the bottom of the inning, Yang gave up one run on an RBI single fly, but kept his cool for the last Panama batter to exit on a ground out to seal the victory, earning Taiwan a fourth place finish in the super round with a 3-2 record.
In other super round action on Saturday, Japan beat Puerto Rico 9-1, setting Japan up for a bronze medal game against Taiwan. Cuba and the US were yesterday to play for the title.
The U-15 Baseball World Cup started with 13 teams in three groups competing in a round-robin format.
The top two teams of each group advanced to the Super Round, while the other seven national teams will compete to round out the final seven places.
The biennial tournament was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2018, Taiwan finished third, behind the US and Panama.
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