Taiwan on Sunday beat Nicaragua to win the bronze medal at the U-15 Baseball World Cup in Colombia, while Liu Jen-yu won the tournament’s ERA award.
Taiwan defeated the Central American country 7-6 at the biennial World Baseball Softball Confederation competition in Barranquilla after fighting back from a four-run deficit.
It was Taiwan’s fifth bronze medal at the U-15 Baseball World Cup and their third consecutive bronze since 2018.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association via CNA
Down 6-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth in the regulation seven-inning game, Taiwan pulled back a run on an RBI single by starting pitcher Lo Shih-cheng.
Still trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth, Taiwan scored a run on four straight singles and then two more on a base hit by infielder Su Zi-jin that was misplayed by Nicaragua.
Catcher Yang Jun-hao put Taiwan ahead by a run with a groundout, and a strong relief effort by Yang Chih-hao shut down Nicaragua over the final two innings to clinch the victory.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association via CNA
“I was only thinking to pitch strikes and give my teammates the chance to make the plays,” the tournament’s Web site quoted Yang Chih-hao as saying.
Nicaragua took a 2-0 lead in the first inning off Lo, and then added to its lead with a run in the second off reliever Yu Nien-hsiao.
Yu kept Nicaragua at bay over the next two innings, while Taiwan pulled back to 3-2 with two runs in the bottom of the third.
Nicaragua added three runs in the top of the fifth, with a run on three hits off Yu, and a hit, a hit batter and a fielder’s choice off Yang Chih-hao that scored two more, setting the stage for Taiwan’s comeback.
Taiwan finished tied for second in the Super Round that determined the teams in the gold and bronze-medal games, a tiebreaker put them behind Puerto Rico.
In the gold-medal game, Japan topped Puerto Rico 7-6.
Pitcher Liu won the tournament’s ERA award with a 0.00 earned run average.
Although Liu did not take the mound on Sunday, over the 12.1 innings he pitched at the World Cup, he struck out 15, while giving up eight hits and two unearned runs.
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