Taiwan last night beat Venezuela 4-3 in an eighth-inning tiebreak to extend their unbeaten record in the Group A opening round of the WBSC U23 Baseball World Cup, after qualifying for the super round with a win over South Africa on Monday.
Taiwan took charge in the first inning, with Tseng Chen-tso hitting a double to right field. Wang Teng-yu’s sacrifice bunt then sent Tseng to third and a single from Li I-wei sent him into home.
Venezuela responded in the top of the second inning, with Jefesron Morales hitting a single to center field to send Ezequie Alfonzo across home plate, and Jesus Chirinos followed that up with a home run in the third inning to take the lead.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
After two scoreless innings, Yen Kuo-chin hit a single toward the shortstop to get on base in the bottom of the sixth. A sacrifice bunt from Ji Cing-ran got Yen on second, and he pushed through to tie the game off a single from Yang Jyun-siang.
After Tseng hit a single toward center field, Lin Yueh-ku, who was brought in as a pinch runner for Yang, brought it home to end the inning 3-2.
However, in the top of the seventh inning, Chirinos homered again to tie the score. Taiwan were unable to respond and the game went into an eighth-inning tiebreak, where a Tseng single was enough to send Ji across home plate for the win.
On Monday, Taiwan topped South Africa 14-1, with an incredible 11-run third inning. Taiwanese pitchers allowed just three hits in the five-inning game.
Japan on Monday qualified for the super round after beating Colombia 4-1, while Colombia advanced yesterday by blanking Germany 7-0.
Japan yesterday beat South Africa 9-0, to raise their win record to 4-1.
In Taipei, South Korea beat Puerto Rico 3-2 to top the Group B standings and qualify for the super round, as games returned to Tianmu Baseball Stadium after being played in Yunlin County’s Doulio due to heavy rain over the previous two days.
While Puerto Rico had little time to rest between their two games yesterday, Australia had even less, as they had to face Puerto Rico immediately after dispatching the Netherlands 5-4 in a comeback win.
Reinvigorated off a victory that kept them eligible to make the super round, Australia scored three runs in each of the first two innings and added two more in the fifth to seal their 8-0 win after six innings.
Cuba blanked Mexico 2-0 earlier in the day.
Group B’s other two super round spots remain up for grabs today.
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