POSTED: Sunday September 27th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Baseball World Cup - RESULTS FROM SATURDAY

Sept 9-27

 
CANADA 6 PUERTO RICO 2:  The
Canadians completed a successful World Cup by taking their first-ever Bronze
Medal, defeating Puerto Rico in Grosetto. Canada took an early 3-0 lead on a Shawn Bowman RBI double and a Jimmy
Van Ostrand sacrifice fly, but Puerto Rico cut the lead to 3-2 in the second on
Jose Valentin’s two run home run off of starter Jamie Richmond.  It remained a one run game until the eighth,
when Jonathan Malo tripled in Adam Loewen from first, and then in the ninth Van
Ostrand hit a two run home run off of Richard Rodriguez to break the game open.
Four Canadian pitchers held Puerto Rico to seven hits and did not allow a
runner to get as far as third after Valentin’s second inning home run
 


AUSTRALIA 4 NETHERLANDS 1:  David
Welch and Dushan Ruzic held the Netherlands to one run and eight scattered
hits, giving Australia their best finish ever, fifth place, in a 4-1 win.  Hainley Statia’s RBI single had tied the game
at one in the third for the Dutch, but Australia took the lead for good on an
RBI single by James Beresford and a run scoring ground out by Nicholas Kimpton
in the seventh.  Stephan Welch ended the
scoring with an eighth inning home run, and Ruzic ended the game by getting Daschenko
Ricardo on a pop up to second with the tying run at the plate.
 

VENEZUELA 6 CHINESE TAIPEI 3: Venezuela took seventh place, rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the sixth
to win.  Dirimo Chavez two run single
tied the score at 2-2 after six, and a Jonathan Sivira sacrifice fly scored Wuilliams
Vazquez to give Venezuela the lead for good in the seventh. A Rene Reyes two
run single in the eighth pushed the lead to 5-3, and Yosnel Garcia’s RBI  single ended the scoring. Four different
Venezuela pitchers held Chinese Taipei scoreless over the final four innings.

GOLD MEDAL PREVIEW:  USA VS. CUBA, SUNDAY AT 15:00, NETTUNO, ITALY

The United States of America and Cuba will meet in an
International Baseball Federation (IBAF) Baseball World Cup final for the
second time in a row, Sunday, at 15:00 (9:00 am EDT)  in Nettuno, Italy.  The U.S. enters the game at 7-0 (13-1
overall), and Cuba, 5-2 (12-2 overall) in third round play.  The USA’s only loss was their first game, 13-9
in 11 innings to Venezuela on 10 September. Cuba has lost to Puerto Rico 5-2 on 18 September and to the USA 5-3 on
Thursday.
 
The game will be seen on the MLB Network in the United
States, Eurosport2 across Europe, ICRT in Cuba, RAI Sport in Italy and on tape
delay on ESPN STAR Asia, making it the most widely-broadcast final since World Cup play began in 1938.
 
The final game will be a rematch of the 2007 IBAF Baseball
World Cup, held in Chinese Taipei.  The
United States won that match-up, 6-3, ending Cuba’s run of nine-straight World
Cup titles.
Although the USA has seen the most recent success in the
event, Cuba has historically dominated World Cup play.  The current No. 1 in the world, Cuba has won
a staggering 25 titles out of the 29 World Cups in which it has competed.  Of the 25 wins, three of them have come in
World Cups held in Italy (1978, 1988, 1998), and in the four tournaments it has
not placed first, it has never finished outside of the top-3.
 
Team USA –
current world No. 4 – will make its 12th appearance in a World Cup
gold medal game,The USA is looking to take back-to-back titles for only the second time ever, the last time being in 1973-‘74.
Sunday.  The U.S. has
won the World Cup three times in 1973, 1974 and 2007.  Overall, this
will be the seventh time Cuba
and the USA have played for World Cup gold, with Cuba holding a 6-1
lead. The last time two nations met in consecutive World Cup Finals was
in 1994 and 1998, with Cuba defeating Korea both times to win the gold.
 
They met for the gold medal twice before in
Italy, in both 1978 and 1988. 
Sunday’s final
will take place in Nettuno, which is referred to throughout Italy as the
country’s foremost baseball town.  Stadio
“Steno Borghese” will play host to the two world baseball powers, providing a
dramatic backdrop for the IBAF’s crown jewel event.
 
Both Cuba and
the United States have seen balanced offensive and pitching performances
throughout the World Cup, but it is hard to ignore the prolific power numbers
put up thus far by Cuba’s Alfredo Despaigne and the USA’s Justin Smoak.
 
Despaigne homered on Friday to break the Cuban and World
Cup record for home runs in one event, with 10. Not to be outdone, Smoak, a Texas Rangers (MLB) prospect, already holds
the U.S. Record in this World Cup with nine home runs.  His 21 RBIs also lead the club.
 
Cuba continues to dominate in the pitching categories as
well, leading all nations with a 1.70 ERA. It has three pitchers now at 3-0, Norge Vera, Miguel and Yulieski
Gonzalez, while reliever Pedro Lazo has three saves and has yet to allow a run.
 
On the U.S. side, Terry Tiffee (.353 4 HR 19 RBI) sits two
RBIs behind Smoak for the team lead, while Jon Weber leads the team in hitting
(.435 3 HR 12 RBI).  The U.S. pitching
staff, which has been key in the squad’s current 13-game winning streak, boasts
a 1.93 ERA and is led by 3-0 Lucas Harrell (no runs allowed in 10 innings in
relief) and a five-man starting rotation which has allowed a total of 12 earned
runs in 83 innings.

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Keywords · Baseball World Cup · baseball · IBAF

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

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