A clutch hit from Chiu Hsin in the bottom of the seventh inning on Saturday propelled defending champions Taiwan to a 2-1 victory over Italy in their WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup Group B opener in Sarasota, Florida.
Taiwan started strong, loading the bases on a single and two walks in the bottom of the first inning, but Italian starter Alessandro Ercolani pitched a timely strikeout to keep the runners at bay and allow his team to exit the inning unscathed.
Aside from a few wild spells early in the game, Ercolani had an excellent tournament debut, with just five hits in four innings, while giving up only one run in the fourth.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association via CNA
His solid performance was eclipsed by CPBL top draft pick Huang Pao-lo, who struck out seven and gave up only one hit over five innings.
Taiwan kept the opposition scoreless until the top of the sixth inning, when Italy capitalized on Huang’s walk with a single off reliever Lin Po-chun to tie the game 1-1.
In the bottom of the seventh, a lead-off double from third baseman Huang Chieh-hsi and the intentional walk of pinch hitter Zheng Jun-wei put runners on first and second. Chiu then sent a line drive to right field to bring home Huang Chieh-hsi and secure the win for Taiwan.
Taiwan, who won the tournament in 1983, 2010 and 2019, tallied seven hits to Italy’s three.
Closer Lin Sheng-en was the winning pitcher despite allowing two walks in his 1-1/3 innings on the mound.
Taiwan are now second behind Japan in Group B, which also includes Mexico, Panama, Italy and Australia, who Taiwan was to play yesterday.
Group A consists of Brazil, the US, Canada, South Korea, the Netherlands and South Africa.
After a round-robin first round, the top three sides from each group advance.
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with
A baseball team from New Taipei City won the US Pony Palomino Division World Series yesterday in Laredo, Texas, defeating the US West representative team from Azusa, California, 2-1. Ku-Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School earned the right to represent Taiwan in the Pony Palomino (17 to 18 age group) World Series after winning this year's Wang Chen-chih Cup, a competition named after Taiwanese-Japanese baseball legend Wang Chen-chih (王貞治), also known as Sadaharu Oh. In the championship game against Azusa, Ku-Pao's starting pitcher Luo Yu-yan (羅于晏) was erratic early, giving up two hits in the bottom of the first inning, followed
Taiwanese pitcher Teng Kai-wei took the mound in New York on Saturday as the starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in his MLB season debut against the New York Mets, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing five runs. The Taiwanese right-hander struggled early, giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a three-run homer to Mets slugger Pete Alonso — his 250th career home run. However, Teng was not fazed and soon found his footing, holding the Mets scoreless in the bottom of the second and third innings. Meanwhile, Mets starter Kodai Senga of Japan made a few errors
RSS