POSTED: Thursday September 17th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CUBA, NETHERLANDS CONTINUE UNDEFEATED PLAY AT WORLD CUP

September 9th/27th

RAIN ALTERS THE ITALIAN SCHEDULE:  Two make-up games were played today in Italy,
with the game scheduled for Torino moved to Godo due to persistent rains.  San Marino played host to the Japan-Chinese
Taipei clash, while Mexico and Canada squared off in Godo.  In the Netherlands, all four games went off
as planned.
 

SECOND ROUND CONTINUES THURSDAY: The second round, which
will be held at sites in the Netherlands and Italy, continues Thursday.  A full slate of games in Italy is headlined
by a battle of unbeatens when Chinese Taipei meets the United States in
Torino.  Other games include Canada-Japan
(Bologna), Australia-Italy (Parma), and Mexico-Netherland Antilles (San
Marino).  All games start at 20:00.  Four games will also take place in the
Netherlands, with Puerto Rico and Great Britain starting off the action at 13:00
in Haarlem.  The night games, all which
start at 19:00, include Netherlands-Venezuela (Haarlem), Spain-Cuba
(Amsterdam), and Nicaragua-South Korea (Rotterdam). 

 

 The complete second
round matchups for the week can be seen at:
http://hosting3.sportingpulse.com/www.2009baseballworldcup.com/index.php?id=10
 

PUERTO RICO 3 KOREA 2:  Puerto Rico knocked off
Korea , 3-2, on Wednesday, behind a stellar pitching performance from Mario Santiago.  The win moves Puerto Rico to 2-1, while Korea falls to 1-2. Puerto Rico was on the board first, scoring a run in the bottom half of the
opening frame off an RBI ground out from Luis Matos. 
Both teams scored in the fourth inning, Korea tacking on one run behind an RBI
double from Young-Hun Cho, and Puerto Rico plating two with an RBI double from Alex Cintron.  Korea scored one more run in the
eighth, but Puerto Rico held on for the victory.  Santiago earned the win
after giving up no earned runs in his seven innings, while striking out
five.  Richard Rodriguez was awarded the save, and Seung-Lak Son of Korea
took the loss.
 

CHINESE TAIPEI 3 JAPAN 1 (10):
 In Wednesday’s Pool G afternoon game,
Chinese Taipei defeated its intercontinental rival Japan in extra innings, 3-1.  Taipei scored a run in the
top of the first, Japan tied the game in the sixth, but in the end, Japan
couldn’t match Taipei ’s two runs in the 10th with the game under the international extra-inning tie-break rule.  It was
a two-man show for Taipei , with start Chih-Lung Huang going the distance,
giving up only the one run (unearned) and striking out four in 10 innings. 
At the plate Hung-Yu Lin led Taipei with two hits while driving in all three
runs.  Japan starter Tomohisa Otani had a
wasted effort, allowing only one run and striking out seven batters over 8.1
innings.  Leadoff hitter Shoh Aranami led Japan with the bat, going 2-3
with a run scored.
 

CANADA
4 MEXICO 2:  Canada bounced back from
their Monday loss to USA, as five pitchers combined to scatter seven hits in a
win of Mexico in Godo, Italy.  The
Canadians grabbed a 2-0 first inning lead on a Brett Lawrie sacrifice fly and a
Tim Smith RBI single, extended it to 4-0 on Shawn Bowman’s RBI singles in the
fourth and sixth.  Catcher Saul Soto’s
two run home run in the eighth cut the lead to 4-2, but Cleveland Indians
prospect Robert Swindle struck out Jesus Cota with the tying runs on base in
the ninth to end the game.  
 

NETHERLANDS
10 SPAIN 5:  The homestanding Dutch moved
to 3-0 by doubling up Spain in Haarlem.  Eugene
Kinsgale led off the bottom of the first with a triple and scored on a
Yurendell Decaster to start the scoring against starter Antonio Noguera and
Sidney deJong’s sacrifice fly scored Decaster with a second run to make it 2-0
after one inning of play.  The Dutch then
broke the game open in the second, sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring seven runs on seven hits to
make it 9-0.  Hainley Statia and Raily
Legito both had two run doubles to lead the Dutch in the inning.  Spain did rally to within 9-5 in the fourth
on a Febles two run single but never got any closer.  The Netherlands pounded out 16 hits,
including three by Kingsale.
 

CUBA
10 VENEZUELA 0:  The Cubans continued
their undefeated play, as Norge Vera and Yadier Pedroso combined on a four hit
shutout of Venezuela. Cuba jumped out to a 3-0 lead on an Enriquez RBI double,
a Yoennis Cespedes sacrifice fly and an Jose Abreu single in the first, extdend
it to 4-0 on an Alfredo Despaigne home run in the fourth and added another pair
in the seventh and four more in the eighth for the win. Abreu’s three hits and
three RBI led Cuba’s 14 hit attack.
 

NICARAGUA
4 GREAT BRITAIN 1:  Diego Garcia pitched
a complete game five hitter, allowing one run as Nicaragua defeated Great
Britain .  Nicaragua scored all the runs
they would need in the second, stringing together four hits, including a Guido
double to take a 3-0 lead off GB starter Brian Essery.  An Adolofo Matamoros double scored the fourth run in
the seventh for Nicaragua, who managed only one earned run against Essery and
Thomas Boleska
 
NOTES

CUBA AT 6-0 LEADING THE WAY: With Wednesday’s win Cuba continued their unbeaten run in the World Cup. Led by a pitching staff with a 1.59 ERA and 70 strikeouts vs. only 12 walks, and a World Cup best .351 batting average, the Cubans are the lone remaining undefeated team from the first two rounds. Cuban pitcher Norge Vera raised his record to 2-0 on Wednesday and has yet to allow a run in 14 innings, while Miguel Gonzalez struck out ten consecutive batters against Puerto Rico in his first start (13 overall in 6 1/3 innings), one short of the World Cup mark of 11 set by former Major Leaguer Burt Hooton (Dodgers and Cubs) of the USA in 1971.  

 

CHINESE TAIPEI PACED BY PITCHING:  Chinese Taipei won their fourth straight Wednesday, has suddenly won three games in a row after starting out 0-2.  Their staff that has allowed just four earned runs in their last 37 innings of work.

 

DUTCH MOVE TO 3-0 ON HOME TURF:  The Netherlands improved their record to 3-0 with Wednesday’s win.  San Francisco Giants prospect Sharlon Schoop, who played with Connecticut of the Eastern League this season, is hitting .583 (7-12) in the first three games, while former Baltimore Oriole Eugene Kingsale is hitting at a .455 pace.

 

 SMOAKIN THE HOMERS:  Texas Rangers prospect Justin Smoak continued his torrid home run pace on Tuesday and now leads all players with six home runs in the World Cup. Smoak has a pair of two homer games for the USA, whose 16 homers as a team also lead the way.

 

NEW DUTCH HALL OF FAMER: Former national team-pitcher and manager Jan-Dick Leurs officially was inducted into the Dutch Baseball and Softball Hall of Fame on Wednesday during a ceremony before the game of the Netherlands and Spain in Haarlem. As a player, Leurs won five Dutch championships with Haarlem Nicols, whom he then coached to six more titles. As manager of the Dutch national team, Leurs guided the squad to three European titles.

 

WELCH SETS AUSSIE STRIKEOUT MARK, TIES GONAZLEZ FOR MOST IN A GAME: Tuesday’s Australia-Chinese Taipei pitching duel saw Milwaukee Brewers pitching prospect David Welch set an Australian record with 13 strikeouts in just seven innings. The 13 k’s match Cuba’s Miguel Gonzalez, who had 13 strikeouts against Puerto Rico in round one,

 

USA PITCHING IN CONTROL AGAIN:  Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Brad Lincoln made his second start another solid one, allowing just one run against Japan on Tuesday. Lincoln joins a rotation that has seen Texas Rangers prospect Kasey Kiker San Diego Padres prospect Cory Luebeke, California Angels prospect Trevor Reckling and Atlanta Braves prospect Todd Redmond… combine to allow just two earned runs, 13 hits and 40 strikeouts in 34 innings.  On Saturday Reckling, had 11 K’s against China, which tied the mark of former Dodger and Cubs pitcher Burt Hooten, who fanned 11 consecutive batters in 1970. Sunday, Luebeke joined Reckling, Ben McDonald (1988) and Hank Woodman (2003) as the only USA pitchers to reach double digits in a game.  Overall Team USA set their own World Cup record with 16 strikeouts vs. China, breaking the mark of 14 set against Brazil in 2003.

 

AUSSIES LOSE TWO BY A RUN: Australia’s extra inning loss Tuesday was their second by a lone run, following their 10-9 loss to Mexico in Round One.  In their four wins, Austraila’s margin of victory is seven, including two 13 run victories.  Their 61 runs scored are the most thus far in the tournament, and their 13 home runs trail only Cuba (14) and USA (16).

 

ORIOLES PROSPECTS LEADING THE WAY FOR PUERTO RICO, SPAIN:  The Baltimore Orioles have three players in this World Cup, but all three are making an impact for their respective countries.  Daniel and Paco Figueroa are leading Spain in hitting and were key factors in Monday’s landmark win over Venezuela, while Puerto Rico’s Miguel Abreu is leading his team in hitting (.450, 7 runs scored three doubles). Paco Figeuroa leads the team with a .526 average, while Daniel is hitting at a .364 pace.

 

METS PROSPECTS AND VETS ALSO MAKING AN IMPACT:  Besides the 10 Minnesota Twins prospects in the World Cup, the New York Mets organization is represented by 13 players, eight current and four former players…Team USA first baseman Ike Davis, the club’s 2008 first round pick, is hitting .417 while infielders Shawn Bowman and Jonathan Malo are playing for Team Canada, infielder Stefan Welch is playing for  Australia and is second on the team with 3 HR and 8 RBI, right handed pitcher Montero Cruz is  playing for Spain, catcher Kai Gronauer  represented Germany, lefthanded pitcher Arturo Lopez  plays for Mexico and infielder Ray Van Gurp is on the Netherlands roster.  Puerto Rico’s roster has four former Mets players not currently signed to an MLB team, including Jose Santiago, Raul Casanova, Luis Matos, Jose Valentin and Juan Padilla.  Valentin is tied for Puerto Rico’s lead in runs scored with six.

 

EXTRA INNING RULE: The IBAF’s Extra Inning Rule, designed to control the length of games,
took effect for the second time Monday in the Australia-Canada game.  For extra innings, each team starts their
half of the inning with runners on first and second and no out.  Each subsequent inning starts the same until
a winner is determined.  A version of the
rule, starting in the 11th inning, was implemented during the
Beijing Olympics and was used five times, with only one game going an
additional inning before being decided. The World Baseball Classic adapted the rule, starting in the 14th
inning, but it was never put into effect. The rule has now been used
four times, with Chinese Taipei now 2-0 and Australia 1-1 in extra
inning games.

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Keywords · IBAF · Baseball World Cup · baseball

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Name: Jake Fehling
Organization: IBAF
Email:
Phone: +1 919 474-8721 x225
URL: http://www.ibaf.org

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