Taiwan clinched a hard-earned extra-inning victory over Panama 5-4 on Saturday to advance to Sunday’s bronze medal match of the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup held in Hermosillo, Mexico.
Following the win, Taiwan manager Tseng Wei-cheng (???) gave credit to Taiwan’s pitchers for limiting the Panamanian offense in the teams’ Super Round match.
Taiwan’s offense had a relatively sluggish performance, with only five hits in seven innings, Tseng said, but he praised his team’s timely hits in the extra inning and pitcher Yang Shan-tung (???) for closing the game.
“Our offense is warming up and players are now having more stable outings as we get deeper into the tournament. We are eyeing the bronze medal tomorrow,” Tseng told reporters.
The game was tied 3-3 at the conclusion of the final 7th inning, sending the teams into an extra inning to determine a winner.
In the top of the eighth, two consecutive hits by Huang Tien-ssu (???) and Ku Ting-hsuan (???) gave Taiwan one run to break the deadlock before an RBI sacrifice fly by Wang Hsing-kai (???) widened the lead to 5-3.
In the bottom of the inning, Yang gave up one run on an RBI single fly-ball but managed to stay calm and got the last Panamanian batter to ground out to seal the victory for Taiwan, earning it a fourth place finish in the Super Round with a 3-2 record.
In other Super Round action on Saturday, Japan recorded a 9-1 victory over Puerto Rico.
Taiwan will face Japan in Sunday’s bronze medal match.
The WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup started with 13 teams placed in three groups competing in a round-robin format.
The top two teams of each group advanced to the Super Round, while the other seven national teams will compete to round out the final seven places.
The biennial WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2018, Taiwan finished third, behind the U.S. and Panama.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel