Cubans take bronze, Canadians settle for fourth

Against a team like the powerful Cubans, all it takes is one mistake to let the game get away.

Tom Robson made that mistake in the fourth inning, and No. 9 hitter Andy Ibanez made him pay. Ibanez, hitting just .136 and unceremoniously dumped from the Cuban’s lead-off spot, made a believer of his countrymen again on Sunday, blasting a first-pitch fastball over the wall in right off Canada’s Tom Robson, to deliver an 8-2 win over Canada in the World Junior Baseball Championship’s bronze-medal game.

For Canada, it was yet another case of squandered opportunities

In six of the first seven innings their lead-off batter reached, and each time they seemed to find ways strand runners, leaving a remarkable 12 runners standing on the basepaths when the final out was called.

It’s the story of the Canadian junior team in the medal round, said manager Greg Hamilton.

“Just overall over the last two days we didn’t get the timely hitting. That’s what it came down to and the clubs that we played did,” Hamilton said. “If you don’t get the hit when you need it against good teams, you’re not going to win.

Not winning a medal, after finishing first in the Pool B standings with a 4-1 record was disappointing to say the least, said DH Philip Diedrick, who went 14-for-32 in the tournament, a .452 clip.

But Diederick isn’t hanging his head.

“It was a good tournament. We had a chance to go to the gold medal game, but we came in and sort of accomplished what we wanted to. We wanted to get into the semfinal and have a one-shot chance at going for the gold.

“Then we had to come and play Cuba which is not an easy task to do, whether it’s pool play or especially the medal rounds, when you know a good guy is coming out on the mound. We had our chances to get at them, but just like last time, we just couldn’t get that one hit when we needed to.” 

Canada had runners in scoring position in four of the first five innings, three of those times with less than two outs.

But four times they struck out swinging, the story of the tournament for a team that couldn’t quite keep up with the hitting of the other top teams.

“We needed to get them in spots in the middle when we had the chance, Hamilton said. “We got the lead-off guys on consistently, but we weren’t capitalizing. We got ones, but we should have gotten a lot more than one in a couple of those innings and we didn’t,” Hamilton said.

After stranding Dalton Pompey and Kellin Deglan in the first, Philip Diedrick started the second with a double to left.

With one out Jalen Harris singled to right, but Diedrick was only able to advance to third, with Harris taking second on an error by RF Jorge Soler.

They’d move no further.

Jimmy Ralph, who managed just four hits in eight games, struck out against Cuban lefty Eddiasbel Valentin, as did Calbick, ending the threat.

In the fourth Diedrick, author of a 3-for-3 day at the plate, singled and advanced to third on outs. Again Ralph failed in the clutch, grounding to second.

It was more of the same in the fifth. They finally broke through in the sixth, when LF Alex Calbick drilled a deep fly to centre that scored Diedrick from third.

The Cubans countered in the seventh on an RBI double to the right-field corner by Yamil Rivalta, scoring catcher Daniel Crespo. But the Canadians avoided further damage when Atkinson took the relay from Wick and fired to Deglan at the plate, nailing Ibanez who tried to score from first.

Canada got one back again their half of the seventh, Pompey coming home an Ibanez throwing error, attempting to complete a 3-6-3 double play.

But once again the Cubans had an answer, converting a Rivas double into their fifth run on a Balaguert sacrifice fly.

They added three more in the ninth, the key blow a bases-loaded double by Lourdes Gourriell. Gelkis Jimenez was thrown out trying to score from first, and subsequently ejected when he slid into Deglan, kicking him in the midsection.

Canada went meekly in the ninth, retired in order by reliever Yosibel Castillo, earning him the save for his three-plus innings of one-hit ball.

The Cubans left the stadium immediately after the game and were unavailable for comment.