myworldofbaseball

With their 3-2 win over the Fubon Guardians the La Miga Monkeys broke a CPBL record for most wins in a season with 72. The previous record for a 120 game season was held by the Uni President Lions with 71 wins in 2012. With 12 games left in the season the Monkeys can continue to add on to the win record.

If the Monkeys can win both halves of the CPBL season they will clinch appearing in the championship series against the winner of the second and third place team. They will enter the series with a 1-0 lead in the series

The United States has finished higher than Japan in most of the tournaments the two play in. The main reason Japan is rated higher is they have played in more tournament, two November World Cup age tournaments that the United States chose not to participate in. The voting system tends to favor quantity of tournaments played rather than quality.

Below are the top ten countries in baseball. You can see the complete list at WBSC.org.

1) Japan - 5598
2) United States - 5414
3) Korea - 4908
4) Taiwan - 3747
5) Cuba - 3637
6) Mexico - 2957
7) Australia - 2634
8) Netherlands - 2374
9) Venezuela - 2286
10) Canada - 2142

Below is the Under 18 World Cup all tournament team. Myworld will include other players who were deserving of consideration based on their statistical performance.

Catcher - Dae-Hyun Cho (Korea) - .278, 1 HR, 11 runs scored, 8 RBIs with a .935 OPS

First Base - Leonardo Seminati (Italy) - .423, 2 HR, 7 RBI with 1.185 OPS

Second Base - Cesar Prieto (Cuba) - .581 ave with a 1.251 OPS

Third Base - Noah Naylor (Canada) - .313 average with .856 OPS

Shortstop - Brice Turang (United States) - .364, 7 runs scored with a .932 OPS

Outfield - Jin-Won Ye (Korea) - .355, 1 HR, 10 runs scored, 6 RBIs with a .992 OPS
Outfield - Alek Thomas (United States) - .361, 8 RBIs and six runs scored with 5 stolen bases
Outfield - Michael Siani (United States) - .333, 12 runs scored and 6 RBIs with 7 stolen bases and a .896 OPS

Starting Pitcher - Ethan Hankins (United States) - 1-0, 0.75 ERA, 27 K’s in 12 innings

Relief Pitcher - Fuminaru Taura (Japan) - 1-1, 1.32 ERA with 29 K’s in 13.2 innings

Others to Consider

United States

Triston Casas - .250, 3 homeruns and 13 RBIs with .993 OPS. Voted MVP of the tournament
Matthew Liberatore - 2-0, 0.00 ERA in 12 innings
Ryan Weathers - 2-0, 0.00 ERA in 9.2 innings
Brandon Dieter - 1-0, 0.00 ERA in 10 innings

Korea

Jun-Hwan Jang - .381, 2 HRs, 9 RBIs with 7 runs scored and a 1.234 OPS. 8 walks
Baek-Ho Kang - .375, 1 HR, 8 RBIs, 6 runs scored, 4 2Bs with a 1.100 OPS. Also 4 K’s in 2 innings. The Shohei Otani of Korea.
In-Hyok Yi - .300, 1 HR, 6 RBIs, 6 runs scored with a .967 OPS
Been Gwak - 1-1, 2.51 with 18 K’s in 14.1 innings
Min Kim - 1-0, 0.77 in 11.2 innings

Japan

Kaito Kozono - .378 average
Hisanori Yasuda - .324 average, 4 2Bs with a .918 OPS
Ginji Miura - 2-0, 0.00 ERA with 19 K’s in 12 innings
Kento Kawabata - 0-2, 2.51 ERA with 25 K’s in 14.1 innings

Canada

Jason Willow - .333, 1 HR, 10 RBIs, 7 runs scored with a .928 OPS
Archer Brookman - .219, 2HR, 11 RBIs, 9 runs scored with a .866 OPS

Australia

Jack O’Loughlin - 2-0, 0.69 ERA with 15 K’s in 13 IP

Cuba

Roidal Martinez - .429 ave with a 1.026 OPS
Victor Mesa - .320 ave.

Taiwan

Han-Yu Tseng - .393 with .964 OPS
Tien-Hsin Kuo - .364 with .860 OPS

Netherlands

Dylan Koster - .364 with .845 OPS
Donny Breek - 1-1, 1.08 ERA, 18 K’s 16.2 innings, 151 opponent average

Italy

Michele Vassalotti - 1-0, 1.64 ERA with 15 K’s in 11 innings
Chih-Jung Liu - 1-1, 1.98 with 13 K’s in 13.2 IP
Yi-Sheng Chu - 1.29 ERA with 12 K’s in 7 IP

Nicaragua

Wandley Lagos - .424 ave, 4 stlen bases with a .899 OPS
Jeyner Flores - .393 ave, 2 HRs, 7 RBIs with 1.219 OPS

Mexico

Saul Martinez - .423 with a 1.041 OPS
Jose Gaona - .400 with a 1.070 OPS
Jorge Valdez - 1-0, 1.17 ERA with 10 K’s in 7.2 innings

South Africa

None

Canada escaped an upset from Italy to stay alive for the Super Round. They played the next day and upset second place Australia to improve their chances after two early game losses. The United States clobbered Cuba to remain undefeated.

Canada 6 Italy 5

Canada never had the lead in this game until a sacrifice fly hit by Marc Lebreux in the top of the ninth drove in the go ahead run to give Canada a 6-5 lead. Wesley Moore finishes the ninth, allowing just one hit to get the win. He shut down the Italian offense for 3.1 innings striking out five. Jason Willow drove in three runs with a double and triple.

Canada relied on 11 walks from the Italian pitching staff to pull out this victory, They ended the day accumulating just seven hits. Leonardo Seminati hit a homerun for Italy. Ricardo Poalini contributed two doubles to drive in two runs but the bats came up short for Italy late when it counted.

United States 8 Cuba 1

Cuba scored the first run in the second inning, but that is all they would score. In five games the United States pitching staff has not allowed more than one run to score against them. This time it was Mitchel Wilcox who stymied the Cuban bats, limiting them to two hits in seven innings. The lone run for Cuba was unearned.

The United States banged out 13 hits. Alek Thomas distributed three of them to knock in two runs. Anthony McNair also had two RBIs on his two hits. Raynel Delgado, born in Cuba and coming to the United States at six years of age went 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI. The United States scored runs in four consecutive innings to make this game a rout.

Canada 8 Australia 2

Canada got back into super round contention with a big win over Australia, who had only lost one game in the tournament. Two big three spots in the first two innings got them off to a good start. Archer Brookman got things started for Canada with a big two run homer in the first inning. For Brookman it is his second homerun of the tournament. Michael Stovman made it back to back with a homerun of his own, also his second of the tournament. In the second inning leadoff hitter Edouard Julien showed off his power bat with a 3-run homer to make it 6-0.

Jack Decooman lasted six innings, allowing just one run to get the win. Cade Smith finished the game for him by working the last three. Each pitcher allowed one run to score during his watch.

Korea 10 Italy 1

Korea stayed undefeated with an easy win over Italy. While the United States team has been winning with their arms, the Koreans have been winning with their sticks. Those bats did not wake up until the sixth when they erupted for five runs. They followed that with a four run seventh to put the game out of reach. It was their third straight game in which they have scored double digits in runs scored. The Koreans failed to hit a homerun in the game, but they did bang out 14 hits. Jin-Won Ye was a perfect 3 for 3 with two runs scored and two walks.

The Koreans used five different pitchers to get them through the game, with a bye tomorrow. One hitter they could not stop was Leonardo Seminati who finished the game 4 for 4, getting four of the five Italian hits. Leonardo accounted for the only Italian run, a solo shot in the fifth to tie the game 1-1. It was the second consecutive game in which Seminati homered.

Japan 12 South Africa 0

Japan strung together 10 hits, but they were also helped with 7 South African errors in a game that was stopped after 7. Kotaro Kiyomiya went deep for Japan in a 2 for 3 day with a double and homerun, driving in two. Kotaro scored three times. Kaito Kozono splashed together three hits in the rout.

Ginji Miura worked five innings in a start for Japan to get the win.

Netherlands 4 Mexico 0

The arm of Christopher Koeiman proved too much for Mexico. He went the complete nine innings, scattering five hits to spin together a shutout. Richgelon Juliana was the offensive star for the Dutch with his three hits, two of them doubles to allow him to cross the plate twice. Dylan Koster also had three hits, driving in one run and scoring once.

Taiwan 10 Nicaragua 5

Taiwan accepted the 10 walks Nicaragua pitchers gifted them and combined them with their 8 hits to score in double digits. Han-Yu Tseng was the bit stick for Taiwan with three hits and four runs driven in. He spanked two doubles. Tan Chiu drove in three from the bottom of the order and also scored four times in a 3 for 4 day with one double and a triple. Tan also stole two bases. The three hits were his first in the tournament after 10 hitless at bats.

Jeyner Sanchez went deep for Nicaragua, his second homerun of the tournament.

The United States pitches three straight shutouts. They and Korea are the only undefeated teams in their pool, though Korea has weaker teams in their pool. Japan stays in it by providing Cuba with their first loss. Below are the summaries for days 3 and 4 of the 18 under World Cup.

Day 3

Japan 7 Cuba 2

Japan bounced back from their loss to the United States to tack on a loss to Cuba. Kaito Kozono carried the big stick with three hits that drove in two runs. He also scored twice. Hikaru Yamashita had trouble finding the strike zone walking six in just 5.1 innings. He survived long enough to get the win with Fumimaru Taura pitching 2.2 innings of shutout relief and striking out five in that outing.

United States 6 Mexico 0

Back to back shutouts for the United States. The game only went six innings with Matthew Liberatore going the distance, allowing just one hit and striking out 12 of the 20 hitters he faced. The United States was only capable of stringing together two hits, but three errors, 8 walks and four hitbatsman gave them enough scoring opportunities.

Korea 11 Canada 7

Don’t know where the strike zone was but it was a mystery to the Canadian pitchers, who walked 14 Koreans. Korean pitcher Been Gwak had no trouble with the strike zone, not walking a single batter in his six innings of work. The bottom of the Korean lineup proved most powerful, bashing three homeruns. Dae-Hyun Cho, Yi Jin-Won and Jang Jun-Hwan each found the bleachers from the 7, 8, and 9 spot in the lineup. The trio combined to drive in 9 of their 11 runs. Cho crossed the plate five times on a 2 for 2 day with three walks. He has scored at least one run in each of his three games.

Canada got a couple homeruns, one from Edouard Julien that drove in three runs and a solo shot from Michael Stovman. For the host Canadians it is their second loss in two games.

Australia 11 Nicaragua 6

The Aussies scored nine runs in the first two innings then hung on for victory. Rixon Wingrove got the damage started with a three run homer in the first. He finished the day with 4 RBIs. Alex Hall drove in two and scored three times on a 3 for 4 day with one walk.

Nicaragua got a couple homeruns from Jose Hurtado and Jeyner Sanchez, both solo shots. Nicaraguan pitchers helped the Aussie cause with 13 bases on balls.

Taiwan 9 Italy 1

The first two hitters in the Taiwan lineup, Hung-Yi Wang and Han-Yu Tseng, each scored three runs to combine for six of the 9 runs scored in the game. Wang went 1 for 3 from the lead off spot with two walks and Tseng went 2 for 4 with one walk. Chih-Jung Liu went 4 for 4 for the day with two runs driven in. The shortstop is now hitting .857 for the tournament with three walks.

Riccardo Bertossi went deep for Italy to account for their only run.

Netherlands 22 South Africa 3

A 14 run first ended this game in five innings, with all 14 runs being unearned. Jeandro Tromp went deep and drove in four runs. Tijmen Takke drove in five with his two doubles. The first seven hitters in the order scored two or more runs.

Day 4

United States 5 South Africa 0

The fact South Africa had this game go 9 innings was an accomplishment. The United States used four different pitchers to combine for the shutout, their third straight for the tournament. The pitching staff has only allowed one runner to cross the plate in their four games. Today the foursome combined for 14 whiffs with Landon Marceaux whiffing five of the six hitters he faced to finish the game. Mohamed Alaoui went the full nine innings for South Africa throwing 118 pitches. He was raised in one of the poorest areas of South Africa (Alexandra Township). Jarred Kelenic hit his second homerun of the tournament, a two run shot in the first inning to give the United States an early 2-0 lead. William Banfield closed the scoring with a solo shot in the ninth.

Australia 4 Taiwan 0

Australia jumped into second place after their shutout of Taiwan. Ky Hampton went all nine innings and though he gave up 11 hits he did not walk a batter (imagine that in what appears to be a walk infested tournament). Taiwan left 10 runners on base. Jacob Amos went deep with a solo shot and Nicholas Anderson-Vine crossed the plate twice to lead the Aussie offense.

Korea 12 Nicaragua 4

Korea continues to score runs in bunches without a lot of hits. They could only accumulate six hits but five walks, three Nicaraguan errors and three hit by pitches contributed to the offense. Korea also continued to get production from the bottom of their lineup with In-Hyok Yi and Jun-Hwan Jang each going deep from the 7th and 9th spots in the order. Yi drove in four runs and Jang has hit homeruns in back to back games.

Japan 3 Netherlands 1

The offense couldn’t click when facing the more advanced Japanese pitching staff, dropping from 22 runs to 1. Fumimaru Taura went four hitless innings in relief, striking out 9 of the 13 hitters he faced. In three relief appearances Taura has only given up two hits and struck out 19 in 9 innings of work.

Donny Breek also pitched well for the Netherlands, shutting out the Japanese bats for the first five innings and not allowing them a hit in the first four. The first two runs against Breek score on a errant pick off throw and a wild pitch. Breek went seven innings, allowing just the four hits and two runs.

Cuba 5 Mexico 1

Mexican pitcher Jorge Sosa walks the first four hitters he faces and is yanked from the game. They all account for a 4-0 lead for Cuba after one inning. Cuban pitcher Yorlian Rodriguez make the runs stand up with seven innings of one run ball allowing just five hits. Rafael Sanchez retires all six hitters he faces to secure the victory. Martin Rodriguez goes seven innings in relief for Mexico, allowing just one unearned run, but all the damage was done in the first.

Italy 5 Canada 3 7th inning

Oh Canada. They are currently in the seventh inning with Italy ripe for an upset. Myworld will give more details on that game for tomorrow, but another loss could eliminate them from advancing to the super round in a tournament they are hosting.

It seemed a bit early for a big matchup between the United States and Japan. The United States quieted the Japanese bats in a 4-0 shutout. Rains prevented the Canada/Nicaragua and Mexico/South Africa games from being played.

United States 4 Japan 0

A rain delay limited starter Landon Marceaux to one inning of shutout ball where he walked a batter and gave up one hit. Ryan Weathers, an appropriate name after a rain delay, proved up to the task working seven innings of shutout ball. He also walked one and gave up one hit, whiffing 8.

The Japanese started Kento Kawabata and chose to keep him in after the rain delay. He worked 5.2 innings striking out 15. His Achilles heel were the six walks he issued. Walks were not a problem in the top of the second when Jarred Kelenic doubled and Triston Casas buried a pitch over the left field fence. The ball travelled so high it must have tore a hole in the sky because the blast was followed by rainfall and a delay in the game.

Japan could not touch the Weathers while the United States scored two more runs against Kawabata, despite all their swings and misses. They score their third run in the fifth after a whiff/wild pitch allows Michael Siani to reach first. Siani is bunted to second and after another whiff and wild pitch scores Siani from second. Siani drives in the fourth run with a single in the sixth inning.

Cuba 3 Netherlands 0

Netherlands had a couple tough openers. After being routed by the United States 11-1 Cuban pitcher Osvaldo Cardenas blanked them for 6.1 innings. Rafael Sanchez completed the shutout pitching the last 2.2 innings and striking out five of the nine hitters he faced and giving up just one hit.

Cuba had some issues hitting Dutch knuckleball pitcher Luuk Ter Beek in the first four innings. A walk to Yuri Fernandez in the fifth followed by a triple by Roidel Martinez plates the first run. Roidel finishes the game 3 for 3 and drives in the second run with an RBI single in the seventh. The final run scored in the eighth on an error.

Victor Mesa, a player the scouts will be drooling on, made his first out in the tournament. He is now 6 for 7, hitting .857, though he made an error playing defense in centerfield in the second game.

Korea 8 Taiwan 2

Korea won their second game and knocked one of their Asian rivals into the losers bracket. Yang Chang-Seop threw blanks for the first seven innings, allowing just three hits. Korea exploded for five runs in the 9th to take a 8-0 lead. Taiwan scored their two runs in the bottom of the 9th after the game was out of reach.

Choi Hyun-Jun drives in three runs for Korea, one on a sacrifice fly in the third and two by slapping a two run single in the ninth. Han Dong-Hui blasts two doubles, his second double driving in two runs in the 9th. Kang Baek-Ho contributes one hit to the game, a big solo shot in the fourth that gave Korea a 2-0 lead. Choi Jun-Woo batted last in the lineup but that didn’t sway him, as he went 3 for 3 with a double and two runs scored.

Australia 14 Italy 1

After pulling off a big upset of Nicaragua the day before Italy gets blasted by Australia. For Australia it evened their record to 1-1. The game lasted just six innings. Australia romped for 8 runs in the 5th to put the game out of reach. Jacob Green allowed a run in the first inning but recovered, coasting to a six inning complete game victory, scattering six hits.

Australia took advantage of 8 walks and 11 hits to pile on the runs. Alex Hall was a perfect 2 for 2 with two walks, two runs scored, two RBIs and a triple. Jarryd Dale was the big RBI bat with three runs driven in. Nicholas Anderson-Vine scored three times on a 1 for 1 day with two walks and two stolen bases. The Aussies stole six times in the game.

The big game to watch today is Japan versus Cuba. Japan does not want to have two losses so early in the tournament. Canada will play Korea and needs a win against the 2-0 Korea to keep from falling 0-2. Canada was upset in the opener by Taiwan, a team Korea beat on the second day.

The first day of the 18 and under World Cup did not see any real upsets, though Taiwan did beat the host Canada team. The three favorites, the United States, Japan and Cuba romped through their competition.

Taiwan 7 Canada 6

The closest game from the first day. It went 10 innings and under the international rule teams put runners on first and second. Taiwan scored twice and Canada could only tally one. Su Wei-Cheh drove in the go ahead run in the top of the tenth with an RBI single. A second run scored on a ground out by Chui Tan. Canada loaded the bases with no out, scoring a run on a RBI single by Archer Brookman, but a ground out force out at home and two called third strikes ends Canada’s hopes for a win.

Walks were the name of the game with Canada’s pitchers walking 9 and the Taiwan hurlers walking 11. Kuo Tien-Hsin collected three hits to drive in two and Tseng Han-Yu drove in two with his one hit. Canada hit two homeruns, one by Clayton Keyes to drive in two in the opening frame. Keyes was one of the hitters who was caught looking in the tenth with the bases loaded. Archer Brookman hit a solo homerun in the fifth in addition to adding two RBI singles.

Japan 10 Mexico 1

Japan put the game away with a five run seventh. Taisei Inoue had the big hit in the inning with a 3-run homer. Kyota Fujiwara also drove in three runs from the leadoff spot. Soma Tokuyama went seven innings only allowing two hits and the one run.

Italy 4 Nicaragua 2

Italy rocked Nicaragua scoring all their runs in the sixth inning after two were out to claim victory. A critical error that should have been the third out opened the flood gates for Italy. Pitcher Noel Jarquin committed the error allowing the first Italian run to score. A Leonardo Seminati single tied the score and Riccardo Bertossi plated the game winner with a two run triple. Tommaso Battioni shut down the Mexican bats for the last three innings to secure the victory.

Korea 4 Australia 1

Korea was carried by the pitching of Seo Jun-Won, who worked seven innings, allowing just two hits and one unearned run. He struck out eight. Korea scores single runs in the first two frames, the first coming on an RBI double by Kim Jeong-Woo and the second run scoring on a Bae Ji-Hwan single in the second.

United States 11 Netherlands 1

The Netherlands had a brief 1-0 lead after scoring a run in the top of the first. That did not last long when the United States countered with a run of their own in the bottom half. By the second inning the lead was gone and after a five run fifth the game turned into a rout. Jarred Kelenic was a triple short of the cycle, driving in a run with a solo shot and scoring twice. Michael Siani drove in three runs from the leadoff spot, falling a round tripper short of the cycle. The United States team hit five doubles, two triples and one homerun in a barrage of power bats. Ethan Hankins dominated with his arm, allowing just one hit and striking out 13 in his six innings of work. Before the day was out Netherland batters had struck out 15 times.

Cuba 15 South Africa 2

This game lasted just seven innings. Cuba banged out 15 hits with Victor Mesa leading the charge with a 4 for 4 day, allowing him to score three times. Loidel Chapelli was a perfect 3 for 3 with two walks, crossing the plate four times and driving in three runs. Cuba used three different pitchers to cut through the game, but middle pitcher Ubert Mejias was the most impressive striking out five of the six hitters he faced.

Rain could create scheduling problems for the games today.

The Asian Baseball Championships will be held October 2 through 8 in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The teams competing in the event are Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Taiwan. The tournament will serve as a qualifier for the Under 23 championships to be held in 2018.

Group A

Korea, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Taiwan

Group B

China, Hong Kong, Japan and Pakistan

Below are some of the awards that were given out to players for their performance in the 12 and under World Cup. These awards were normally handed out to players who performed on winning teams. Below the all tournament team myworld lists some other players who performed well in the tournament.

All Tournament Team

MVP Kai Caranto (United States) - .391 average, 2 homeruns and 17 RBIs with 9 stolen bases

Top Hitter Reiji Toi (Japan) - .706, 1, 7 with 7 stolen bases

Top Pitcher - Chia-Cheng Chao (Taiwan) - 2-0, 0.69 with 15 K’s

Top Defensive Player - Pai Chen An (Taiwan) - .556, 5, 14

Starting Pitcher - Chao Chia Cheng (Taiwan) - 2-0, 0.69 with 15 K’s
Relief Pitcher - Joshua Atomanczyk (United States) - .381, 5, 12, 2-0, 1.24 ERA
Catcher - Pai Chen An (Taiwan) - .556, 5, 14
First Base - Raffaele Velazquez (United States) - .455, 1, 8
Second Base - Cesar Monjeras (Mexico) - .393, 3, 15 with 11 runs scored
Third Base - Chan-Seo Lee (Korea) - .385, 0, 4
Shortstop - Kai Caranto (United States) - .391, 2, 17, 9 stolen bases
Outfield - Adan Sanchez (Panama) - .750, 4, 7 with 15 runs scored
Jose Tirado (Mexico) - .654, 5, 15 with 13 runs scored
Toi (Japan) - .706, 1, 7 with 7 stolen bases

Other Players to Recognize

United States

Benjamin Reiland - .643, 1, 9 with 16 runs scored and 9 stolen bases
Spencer Butt - .600, 1, 3 with 6 stolen bases
Brad Burnes - .391, 2, 9 with 10 runs scored and 11 stolen bases
Brandon Olivera - 1-0, 1.71

Taiwan

Yi-Lei Sun - .524, 2, 5 with 11 runs scored and 9 stolen bases
Yu-En Chien - .467, 2, 6 with 13 runs scored and 8 stolen bases
Yi-Cheng Yang - .444, 2, 10 with 14 runs scored and 10 stolen bases
Shuo-Heng Han - 1-0, 0.75 with 15 K’s, .409, 4, 12 with 11 runs scored
Sheng-Wei Yang - 1-0, 1.06

Mexico

Juan Saldana - .450, 2, 9
Antonis Macias - .417, 2, 8 with 13 runs scored
Juan Hernandez - 4-0, 1.32

Japan

Koki Yamaguchi - .563, 1, 9
Daisuke Mori - .348, 2, 7 with 13 runs scored and 7 stolen bases

Korea

Jeong-Gyu Woo - .474, 0, 3
Seong-Mu Jang - .444, 0, 6

Nicaragua

Bryant Machado - .417, 1, 7 with 8 runs scored

Panama

Dimas Oda - .529, 0, 4 with 5 doubles
Emanuel Villarreal - 2-0, 1.44 12 K’s

Czech Republic

Lukas Hurta - .450, 1, 4 with 4 doubles

Brazil

Gabriel Ota - .412, 0, 5

Australia

David Hyde - .409, 0, 5, 1-1, 1.33

Russia

Jared Riffel - .417, 2, 5

Germany

Kilian Redle - .333, 1, 3

The United States won their third straight under 12 World Cup getting a bit of revenge in the process by beating Taiwan. Earlier in pool play Taiwan had thrashed the United States, hitting five homeruns in a five inning 16-2 route. In the bronze medal game Mexico pulled off the upset winning a pitcher’s duel over Japan.

United States 7 Taiwan 2

A largely disappointed sell-out crowd of 11,000 fans watched the United States use two big blasts to take an early lead over Taiwan and keep it. Kai Caranto began the fireworks in the third inning with a big three run homer. Raffaele Velazquez made it back to back with his solo shot to give the United States an early 4-0 lead. Brandon Olivera kept the Taiwan bats in check with two hits, the big hit a two run homer from Chen-An Pai in the fourth. The United States gave themselves some breathing room in the fifth taking advantage of two Taiwan errors to score three runs. Caranto shut out the Taiwan bats the last two innings to gain the victory and the Under 12 World Cup championship for the third straight time. You can go to the WBSC website and click on the schedule to watch the championship games. In the background you can hear the chant “U-S-A”.

Mexico 1 Japan 0

Juan Hernandez pitched a six inning complete game shutout to tame the Japan bats on five hits. Three of the five hits were by Koki Yamaguchi, who finished the day 3 for 3 with a double. A lead off walk issued by Japan pitchers, a ground out moving the runner to second and a passed ball and wild pitch scored the only run of the game in the fifth inning. Japan used four different pitchers to limit Mexico to three hits, but it was their ability to score the lone run without a hit that proved the game winner.