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Canada drops heartbreaker to Chinese Taipei

Canada leaves the bases loaded in the 10th, the winning run on second base, to open the 2017 Under 18 World Baseball Cup with a 7-6 defeat.

THUNDER BAY – Canada had plenty of chances to put Chinese Taipei away on Friday night.

The big hit just wasn’t there when they needed it the most.

The host country loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th inning, pushed one of the two runs across they needed to tie, but couldn’t get the equalizer and fell 7-6 to open the Under 18 World Baseball Cup with a heartbreaking loss.

Thanks to a gimmicky rule designed to end extra-inning games in a hurry, Canada started the 10th inning with runners on first and second.

Archer Brookman, who homered earlier in the game, delivered a single that just squeaked through the infield, scoring pinch-runner Marc-Antoine Lebreux-Beauchemin from second when the ball dribbled away into the outfield grass.

With runners on first and third, Denzel Clarke walked to load the bases.

But the tying run was not meant to be.

Pinch hitter Dondrae Bremner slammed a grounder that was gobbled up by shortstop Chih-Jung Liu, who fired home to nail Jason Willow at the plate.

Edouard Julien and Clayton Keyes struck out looking at the hands ofreliever Bo-Hao Chen to end the comeback bid.

“It was a tough one,” said Canadian manager Greg Hamilton, adding he told his players to let go of the disappointment of a game they led 4-1 and 5-3.

“It’s Game 1 of the tournament. There’s a lot of tournament left and if we’re going to have to let this go real fast, real quick.”

While he likely would have preferred to see his team go down swinging, Hamilton didn’t fault either Julien or Keyes – who hit a two-run shot in the first to put Canada up 2-1 – for keeping the bat on their shoulder with the game on the line.

“It’s tough, but those were pitches that were tough pitches. They could have gone either way. They were on the black. When you’re in a 3-2 count and you can paint a fastball like that on the outside corner on the knees, sometimes you tip your cap to the guy that made that pitch,” Hamilton said.

Chinese Taipei struck first, after southpaw starter Wesley Moore issued a four-pitch walk to leadoff hitter Hung-Yi Wang to open the ballgame. He’d later score on Chih-Heng Chiu’s sacrifice fly.

Up 2-1 in the third, Canada added another pair of runs off starter Hsin-Chieh Lin, who walked seven batters in 2.2 innings of work.

Noah Naylor scored on a Brookman single, with Stovman coming home on Denzel Clark’s flyout to right.

Han-Yu Seng cut the Canadian lead to one with a two-run single in the fourth off Moore, who completed the inning and gave way to reliever Cade Smith.

Brookman, who was 3-for-4 on the night, homered with one out in the fifth to give Canada a 5-3 advantage, but Chinese Taipei evened the score in the seventh, Tien-Hsin Kuo lining a single over Willow at short that plated a pair.

Wei-Chi Su singled home the go-ahead run for Chinese Taipei in the extra frame off Harley Gollert, who pitched the final 3.2 innings for Canada.

They added one more on a Tan Chiu groundout.

Canada takes on Nicaragua at 1 p.m. on Saturday, while Chinese Taipei faces Korea at 9 a.m., a quick 10.5-hour turnaround after Friday night’s contest lasted four hours.

Cuba 15, South Africa 2: Leadoff hitter Loidel Chapelli Zulueta was 3-for-3 with two walks, scoring four times and driving in three to lead the Caribbean nation to a lopsided mercy win that lasted just six innings.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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