Dutch upset Cubans

The Netherlands have pulled off the near impossible.

The Dutch squad scored six runs Wednesday in the bottom of the eighth inning at Baseball Central to erase what had been a 7-0 Cuban lead, tying the game at 8-8, then OF Brennan Nijhof walked home with the winning run in the 10th, scoring the upset of the World Junior Baseball Championship.

It’s a game that had just about everything, including a rare play when Cuban Guillermo Aviles was ruled out after hitting a second-inning homerun and then passing a runner ahead of him on the basepath.

The 9-8 stunner means all Canada has to do is beat the winless Czech Republic on Wednesday night in the round-robin finale and they’ll finish first in the Pool A standings and likely face Italy in Friday night quarterfinal. A win would give Canada a 4-1 record, tied with South Korea. But the first tiebreaker is head-to-head play, and Canada beat the Koreans 5-4 on Sunday. Korea easily dispatched of Panama on Wednesday afternoon, drubbing the Central American country 12-2. 

The result could set up a potential Cuba-U.S. duel in another quarterfinal on Friday.
The Cubans (3-2)roared out to a 5-0 lead after two, scoring twice without the benefit of a hit in the first and three more times in the second thanks to a Yamil Rivalta RBI double and Aviles’s would-be homer.

The Caribbean nation added two more in the eighth, but the Netherlands matched them with a pair in their half of the inning off reliever Omar Luis, spotting starter Yosibel Castillo who pitched six scoreless, seven-hit innings.

Luis hit Stijn Van Der Meer to open the inning, then walked Skip Visser. Meer and Visser then scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-2.

Cuba responded with a run in the eighth, but then disaster struck when they took the field.
Rogelio Quesada took over the mound and walked two and gave up a single to Kevin Dirksen, loading the bases, ending the pitcher’s day in a hurry.

Antonio Baro’f took over and couldn’t get a batter out walking two and hitting one to account for the first three Netherlands runs. Yordanis Casanova was the third pitcher brought in by the Cubans and he quickly retired the first two batters he faced. But then he hit Nijhof, walked Raoell Korstam and Dirksen and the game was tied 8-8.

WJBC rules state that each team starts extra innings with runners on first and second and no outs, with the manager allowed to rearrange his batting order.

Rivas grounded into a double play and Aviles fouled out, and the Netherlands (3took their turn at the plate.

With Eddyalb Valentin on the mound for Cuba, Visser took second and Jordan Illis was placed on first. Both advanced 90 feet on a Valentin wild pitch.

Valentin, who started the opener for Cuba, struck out Roy Seltenrich, then walked Urbanus intentionally to load the bases.

Daal struck out swinging, but Nijhof earned an eight-pitch walk after being in an early 0-2 hole to score the upset.

In other World Junior Baseball Championship action Wednesday:

U.S.A. 16 France 0: At Port Arthur Stadium, in a mismatch between the tournament’s best team and its worst, the Americans showed no mercy, rapping out 15 hits and only allowing two in return, in a game that ended after five innings. Tony Wolters hit a lead-off homerun an pinch hitter Lance McCullers hit a grand slam to left-centre. Derek Starling and Michael Lorenzen had three RBI apiece. Daniel Camerena pitched a two-hit shutout for the U.S., who finish round-robin play at a perfect 5-0, tops in Pool A. The French finished 0-5 and will play Friday morning against the fifth-place team in Pool B.

Australia 14 Italy 4: A six-run fourth inning, keyed by a two-run single from Sam Morris, broke open a 1-1 tie and guaranteed the Australians will finish above .500 at the WJBC. Luke Parish was 2-for-4 with three runs scored, while Jacob Sheldon Collins was 3-for-4 with three RBI, a run and a double. Mirco Caradonna drove in a pair for the Italians (2-3). The game ended after seven because of the 10-run mercy rule.