U.S. keeps pressing

Stealing bases with large leads is frowned upon in polite baseball society.

But this is the World Junior Baseball Championhip, and U.S. manager Garye Lafevers and his first base coach Brian McRae aren’t fooling around.

Knowing there is a 10-run mercy rule in place after seven innings – 15 after five – the duo plan to keep pushing their players to rack up the runs to save valuable innings on their pitchers’ arms.

It didn’t exactly sit well with the Italians on Sunday night when the big, bad U.S.A. squad tried to steal, ahead by double digits, but LaFevers said in a short tournament like this, he’s going to do whatever it takes to ensure his team has every advantage it needs as the games get tougher.

“All we were trying to do was minimize the number of innings our pitchers have to throw,” LaFevers said, after his team made easy work of the neophyte Italian team, blanking them 10-0 in front of 1,700 fans at Port Arthur Stadium.

“It’s to your advantage with your pitching staff if you can get 15 runs on the board like Cuba did today, or get 10 runs like we did through seven.”

Not that it really mattered given the pitching performance the U.S. got on Sunday from starter John Simms. After giving up a single to the Italian’s lead-off hitter, Simms went on a tear, striking out 11 and scattering just two hits in blanking them through six before giving way to reliever Dillon Maples.

Simms, who counts Billy Wagner as his baseball role model, said there’s something about playing for the Stars and Stripes that brings out the best in his performance, though it was a little nerve-wracking in the early going.

“When you put on the jersey and you get on the stage in front of this crowd, you get some butterflies. If you don’t, you’re not human,” Simms said. “It’s just all about settling down and getting into your routine out there on the mound.”

And that’s just what he did, after Mirco Caradonna reached third before an out was recorded in the game.

A sharp grounder to third, and a little over-zealous baserunning by Caradonna took care of that in a hurry.

Simms then set down the next nine batters he faced, and didn’t allow a hit until Gabriele Ebau began the fifth with a single.

In fact, no Italian ventured as far as third until the seventh, when Maples loaded the bases with a pair of walks and a hits batsman.

The Americans, on the other hand, just kept picking away at their 10-run goal, content to get what they could and let the Italian players know just where the game originated.

Francisco Lindor doubled home Tony Wolters for the lone run of the first.

Christian Lopes did the same in the second, only he scored on Michael Lorenzen’s two-bagger. A passed ball and an error led to both third-inning runs, putting the Americans ahead 5-0 at the time. Two more followed in the fourth, and an error scored two more in the fifth.

LaFevers liked the end result, just not how they got there.

“We played about as good as we could under the circumstances. Italy’s pitchers obviously don’t have the velocity that we’re used to. They get a lot of kids out on the front side. It took us awhile to make adjustments and they still had us out on the front side,” he said, adding they had 150 kids at their team trials who could throw faster than the best the Italians had to offer.

“When you face soft pitchers that throw a lot of off-speed stuff, it takes awhile to make adjustments.”

The Americans will have to readjust quickly. Next up is Chinese Taipei, a pre-tournament heavyweight that also brings a 2-0 record into Monday’s match.

In other World Junior Baseball Championship action Sunday:

Netherlands 5 Panama 2: At Baseball Central the Dutch team pulled off a mild upset, scoring three times in the ninth inning to break open a 2-2 tie and down Panama (1-1). Jordan Illis, Nick Urbanus and Rodney Daal crossed the plate for the Netherlands (1-2), who were up 2-0 through the top of the seventh, only to see Panama score runs in successive innings to tie the score. Panama’s Carlos Diez, tossed 8 1/3 innings of relief in taking the loss. Lars Huijer earned the win for the Netherlands. Both teams have the day off on Monday.

Cuba 16 Czech Republic 1: At Baseball Central Guillermo Aviles went 2-for-4 at the dish and scored four times as the undefeated Cubans improved to 3-0 at the WJBC. Angel Garcia had a pair of doubles from the nine-hole and drove in two. Andy Ibanez had three RBI in support of five Cuban pitchers. The Czech Republic (0-2) plays Korea on Monday.

Chinese Taipei 13 Australia 11: At Baseball Central, Chinese Taipei (2-0) survived a five-run eighth and hung on to beat Australia. The Asian squad scored five of their own in each of the sixth and the seventh. Lin Tzu Wei was 5-for-5 with four runs and a pair of RBI. Ko Chih Wei and Yang Hong Sheng drove in three apiece for the winning side. Ryan Battaglia was 4-for-4 with two runs and six RBI for Australia (1-2).