myworldofbaseball

The Omaha participants have been finalized. Of the participants LSU was the last team to win the College World Series way back in 2009. Other winners include Oregon State (back to back in 2006/2007) and Cal State Fullerton (2004). Florida and Florida State have not won a College World Series but had second place finishes in 2011 for Florida and 1999 for Florida State.

Below are the results of the last two super regionals and the brackets for the College World Series.

Gainesville Super Regional

Wake Forest got a solo homerun from Ben Breazeale in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 1-1. Alex Faedo had pitched the first four innings for Florida followed by four shutout innings from Brady Singer. Michael Byrne threw the last three innings, giving up a homerun to Breazeale, the first batter he faced in the ninth inning, loading the bases in the 10th but surviving with six whiffs. With the 9 K’s by Faedo and the 8 by Singer the Gator pitchers struck out 23 in 11 innings. A walk and two hit by pitches in the 11th inning loaded the bases for Florida to set up the walk off single by Ryan Larson.

The two teams played another 11 inning game the second day, but this time a walk off two run homer by Breazeale gives Wake Forest an 8-6 win over Florida. Breazeale had hit a solo homerun earlier in the game. Johnny Aiello, who went 0 for 5 with four K’s in the first game went deep with two solo shots in game two. Gavin Sheets also homered with three RBIs.

There were no homeruns from Breazeale in game three. Three different Florida pitchers shut out the Wake Forest bats, allowing just four hits in the 3-0 win. J.J. Schwarz provided all the offense the Gators needed with a two run homer in the third. Alex Faedo pitched the last two innings to secure the win.

Baton Rouge Super Regional

Konnor Pilkington pitched six innings of shutout ball for Mississippi State. Down 3-0 going into the bottom of the eighth LSU rallied off the bullpen for four runs to win the game 4-3. Greg Deichmann roped a two run double to drive in the first two runs, Zach Watson tied it with an RBI single and Michael Papierski hit a sacrifice fly to give LSU the lead. Zack Hess pitched the ninth inning to secure the victory.

A six run fifth gave LSU a 9-4 lead and allowed them to coast to a 14-4 win in game two.

Bracket One

Oregon State versus Cal State Fullerton

LSU versus Florida State

Bracket Two

Louisville versus Texas A&M

Florida versus TCU

The winners of the two brackets will play a two out of three series for the championship.

Curacao Neptunus downed Unipol Bologna 7-3 taking advantage of two outfield errors in a four run seventh to break a 2-2 tie. Gianison Boekhoudt drove in two runs in the inning with a single. Boekhoudt was voted the MVP for the tournament.

Christian Diaz strung together three hits and Shaldimar Daantji powered a solo homerun in the eighth to assist in the victory. Berry Van Driel pitched the last 2.2 innings to earn the save.

San Marino beat L&D Amsterdam by the same 7-3 score to earn third place. Nick Urbanus drove in all three runs for L&D in the loss. For San Marino they had five different players drive in runs with Duran Epifano and Mario Chiarini scoring twice to lead the offense.

The host Buchbinder was relegated to the second tier after losing to Mainz Athletics 4-3. The Athletics used a couple two run homers, Kevin Kotowski in the third and Max Boldt in the sixth to provide them with all the runs they needed. Buchbinder did have the tying run thrown out at home in the bottom of the ninth on a failed bunt attempt.

The Rouen Huskies and A.S.D. Rimini finished in a tie for fifth place.

L&D Amsterdam 9 Buchbinder 6

L&D Amsterdam finished pool play undefeated with their 9-6 win over the hosts despite their pitchers walking 11 hitters. Six of those walks, plus a hit batsman and two wild pitches occurred in the ninth inning when Buchbinder scored four runs to make the game appear close. Remco Draijer drove in the first two runs for L&D with a solo homerun and sacrifice fly. He finished the day with three hits and three RBIs. Rashid Gerard broke a 2-2 tie with a two run single in the sixth, his only hit of the game.

Curacao Neptunus 9 Rouen Huskies 3

Curacao won their pool at 2-1 with a 9-3 win and having the tie breaker with a win over 2-1 Bologna. Kevin Kelly struck out 11 in 7.2 innings of work, giving up all three runs. Gianison Boekhoudt hit a solo shot to lead off the second to tie the game at 2-2. Recently released Astro Stijn Van Der Meer broke the 2-2 tie with an RBI single in the fifth and also added another RBI single in the sixth. Daniel Fernandes broke the game wide open with a two run homer in the Neptunus four run eighth inning.

Unipol Bologna 22 Mainz Athletics 2

Mainz committed 9 errors and walked 9 to hand Bologna too many base runners to keep this game close. Paolino Ambrosino was the big RBI bat driving in four.

San Marino 6 Rimini 3

San Marino won the second place battle in their pool with Rimini taking 10 innings to do it. A dropped fly ball and a wild pitch helped San Marino score the three runs in the extra inning.

With the first and second place teams decided today was the single elimination playoff.

Unipol Bologna 9 L&D Amsterdam 8

The first loss by L&D eliminated them from the championship match. Unipol clubbed four homeruns with the grand slam by Robel Garcia in the third the biggest homer to give Bologna a 4-0 lead. Eladio Russo added a 3-run homer in the fifth and Bologna had jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Solo homeruns from Osman Marval and Paolino Ambrosino were icing on the cake that proved to be key to keep Bologna on top. L&D will have to settle for a third place game.

Curacao Neptunus 7 San Marino 1

Diegomar Markwell scattered eight hits and allowed just one runner to cross the plate in his nine innings of work. A five run seventh put the game out of reach. Christian Diaz and Gregory Muller each drove in two runs to lead the offense.

Curacao will face Bologna in the championship game on Sunday, one Italian club versus a club from the Netherlands.

The best club teams in Europe are gathering in Regensburg, Germany for the 2017 European Championship cup. After two days only L&D Amsterdam is undefeated. Below are the results:

L&D Amsterdam 5 T&A San Marino 1

Kevin Heijstek threw eight innings of one run ball to get the win, limiting San Marino to just four hits. San Marino pitchers walked seven hitters with Remco Draijer scoring twice from the leadoff spot to lead the offense.

Curacao Neptunus 12 Unipol Bologna 6

Another victory by a club from the Netherlands. A grand slam homerun from catcher Gianison Boekhoudt in the seventh inning put this game out of reach. Gianison finished the game with three hits and five RBIs. Christian Diaz also collected three hits driving in three runs.

Rouen Huskies 17 Mainz Athletics 7

The Huskies brought out their bats with seven different players driving in at least two runs. Gabriel Fromental led the offense with four hits, a triple short of hitting for the cycle. His two run homer in the fifth gave the Huskies a 6-5 lead. They would blow the game wide open with 11 runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

A.S.D. Rimini 5 Buchbinder Legionaere 2

Jose Rosario for Rimini and Mike Bolsenbroek for Buchbinder dueled for seven innings, each throwing zeroes. Nicola Garbella ended the shutout with a two run homerun in the eighth. Rimini scored three more runs in the top of the ninth, Garbella driving in a third run with a sacrifice fly. Buchbinder scored their only two runs in the last of the ninth, sending the locals home disappointed. Rosario struck out 10 in his seven innings of work.

Unipol Bologna 14 Rouen Huskies 0

What a difference a day can make, the Huskies going from 17 runs to zero. The Huskies had trouble figuring out Matteo Bocchi, failing to get a hit in his seven innings of work. The game was called after seven innings because of the slaughter rule. A walk in the first inning was the only baserunner for the Huskies. Francesco Fuzzi and Alex Sambucci each connected for homeruns in the seven run fifth going back to back, Francesco with a two run shot and Sambucci with the solo. Fuzzi finished the game with 5 RBIs.

Mainz Athletics 7 Curacao Neptunus 6

A bit of an upset with the Athletics scoring all their runs in the first two innings. Max Boldt had the big hit with a grand slam homerun in the second inning. Curacao battled back getting three runs in the eighth and leaving two runners on base. Riley Barr, who went all nine innings retired Neptunus in order in the ninth to secure the victory.

L&D Amsterdam 9 Rimini 2

L&D ended the day the only undefeated team early in the tournament with their thrashing of Rimini. Rob Cordemans got the start and the win, going six innings and scattering seven hits. Both teams finished the day with 11 hits but L&D did the most with their hits. Rashid Gerard led the offense with three hits, two doubles with two runs scored and one RBI. Rimini supplemented the L&D offense with nine bases on balls.

San Marino 13 Buchbinder Legionaere 1

The locals got blasted to remain the only winless team in the tournament, San Marino erupting for 12 runs in the first two innings. Buchbinder pitcher Michael Woehrl committed three errors and walked six in 2.1 innings to allow nine runs to score in his short relief appearance. Duran Epifano collected three hits, including two doubles to drive in two and score three runs.

It turned into a five team tournament when the Indian baseball team could not obtain visas in time to travel to Pakistan to play in the tournament. Sri Lanka then surprised the competition, going undefeated including a 4-2 win over Pakistan. Pakistan has traditionally had an easy time with this tournament, winning the last four.

Sri Lanka had an easy time defeating Iran 22-0, then rolled over Nepal 11-0. The game against Pakistan was tied 2-2 until the bottom of the eighth when Sri Lanka scored two runs to give them the victory. Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka are eligible to compete in the Asian Baseball Championship held in New Taipei City in September. Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, Hong Kong and the Philippines are the six other teams who have qualified for the tournament.

Iran won a slugfest over Nepal 10-6 to finish in third place.

Mitch Dening slugged a two run homerun in the top of the 12th to give the Adelaide Bite an 8-4 win over the Brisbane Bandits. This ties the series at one game apiece with the final game played on Sunday. The Bite scored two more runs in the 12th inning on an RBI single by Josh Altman and a sacrifice fly from A.C. Carter.

For the Bite they got four hits from Jordan Cowhan and three hits from Josh Altman. Marcus Greene Jr. mashed a two run homerun in the first inning to give the Bite a 3-0 lead. Aaron Whitfield slugged a two run homer in the second inning for the Bandits to tie the game at three runs apiece.

Loek Van Mil was able to shut out the Bandit bats during four innings of relief to give them an opportunity for victory. Zach Cooper pitched the last two innings to get credit for the win.

Mexico kept pace with Cuba, beating Venezuela 5-1 to improve to 3-0 in round robin play. A walkoff grand slam homerun from Sebastian Valle gave Mexico the victory. Valle was once a highly regarded catching prospect for the Phillies, but as the years have progressed that status has lost it glow.

Venezuela scored their only run in the top of the third on a two out RBI single by Jose Castillo. Jonathan Herrera had started the inning with a single and moved to second on a ground out. A Sebastian Valle double to lead off the bottom of the third for Mexico and a bunt moved him to third with one out. Mexico could not score when Chris Roberson flew out too shallow to score Valle and Jason Bourgeois lined out to centerfield.

In the top of the sixth Sebastian Valle showed off his arm by picking off Rene Reyes off third to end a first and third rally. Motivated by the defensive excellence of the rally killing pickoff Jason Bourgeois lined a one out single to left fielder Jose Pirela, who bobbled the ball allowing Bourgeois to advance to second. This proved critical when C.J. Retherford slapped a hard ground ball single into leftfield to score Bourgeois. Mexico loaded the bases on an intentional walk and an infield single but Agustin Murrillo struck out to end the threat. He finished the game striking out three times.

Neither team threatened until the ninth when Mexico put their first three batters on base via a single, a bunt and throwing error and a walk to load the bases for Valle.

Oliver Perez got the win for his ninth inning of work. Over 24,000 witnessed the Mexico victory.

Puerto Rico won their first game with a 10-2 clobbering over the Dominican Republic. Rusney Castillo hit a two run homer in the first to give Puerto Rico an early 2-0 lead. When the Dominican Republic scored two runs in the fifth inning to pull within one David Vidal mashed a double in the bottom of the fifth to start a three run rally.

Puerto Rico put the game away with three runs in the sixth inning. Ironically, Rusney Castillo was responsible for driving in runs in the fifth and sixth, but he did not get credit for an RBI. The RBI in the fifth was courtesy of an error and the run in the sixth he ground into a double play to score a run. He did drive in his third run in the ninth with an RBI single.

Ivan Dejesus and David Vidal each slapped three hits in the game with Dejesus crossing the plate three times. Andres Santiago gets credit for the win after getting the last out of the fifth inning and pitching two more shutout innings.

Dominican Republic next plays Venezuela. They have to hope for a Cuban victory over Venezuela to create a three way tie for last place if they can beat Venezuela the next day. Both Mexico and Cuba have clinched playoff bids but play each other on the last day to determine first seed.

The World Port tournament, which is held every other year in the Netherlands will include Japan, Korea, Curacao, Netherlands and Cuba as the participants in 2017. The dates are scheduled for July 1-9 in Rotterdam at Family Stadium.

Japan and Korea traditionally fill their rosters with college and Independent League players. Cuba usually brings a national team, but their league has been watered down with defections to the major leagues. The team that represents Cuba are normally younger players who have potential for future national team representation. There is always a defection or two after the tournament. The Netherlands usually fields a strong team composed of their players from their national team. Curacao fills its rosters with players from the island who are playing in the Dutch League.

Cuba won the tournament in 2015. The Netherlands hopes to avenge that championship loss. The three other teams will be fillers who hope to spoil another Cuba/Netherlands championship series.

Nepal and Sri Lanka conducted their national baseball championships in December according to the WBSC. For Nepal it was their first national championship. The Armed Police Force defeated the Nepal Army 14-4 to win the Nepalese championship. If they continue their baseball championship myworld will have to create a category for them.

Ten teams competed in Sri Lanka in the double elimination tournament for their championship. The winners were the Old Royalist Baseball Club who defeated the Ranabima Baseball Club. They played the tournament on the recently built field that Japan helped build, the Japan/Lanka Friendship Baseball Field. Sri Lanka does have a category associated with it.

Below is the calendar of events for baseball in many different geographical areas. If myworld had the time we would try to hit all of them. We’ll be at a few.

February 1-7 - Series del Caribe in Culican, Sinoaloa,Mexico - home of the Tomateros

March 6-10 - World Baseball Classic, Pool A Seoul, Korea

March 7-11 - World Baseball Classic, Pool B, Tokyo Japan

March 9-13 - World Baseball Classic Pool C, Miami, Florida, United States

March 9-13 - World Baseball Classic, Pool D, Jalisco, Mexico

March 12-16 - World Baseball Classic, Pool E, Tokyo, Japan

March 14-19 - World Baseball Classic, Pool F, San Diego, California, United States

March 20-22 - World Baseball Classic Finals, Los Angeles, ,California, United States

March - Florida for Spring Training, Palm, Florida, New Home of the Astros and Nationals

April 3 - Washington D.C. opening day for game versus the NL East Miami Marlins

June 16-28 - NCAA College World Series, Omaha, Nebraska

July 1- 9 - World Port Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands

July 2-7 - Cuba versus United States Series, Cary, Durham and Charlotte,, North Carolina

July 28 - August 6 - IV U-12 Baseball World Cup, Tainan, Taiwan

August 17-27 - Little League World Series, Williamsport, Pennsylvania

September 1 - 10 - Under 18 Baseball World Cup, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada