TAICHUNG, Taiwan-It will take a bit of luck and no margin for error for Canada to advance to the second round of competition at the 18U World Cup after a tough 4-2 loss to Chinese Taipei this evening at Intercontinental Stadium.
Canada got behind early and could not make up enough ground as the host club pleased their faithful with a spirited win.
“They were a little more opportunistic than we were in spots, but I thought both teams competed hard tonight,” said Manager Greg Hamilton. “Taipei is a very good ballclub and you tip your hat to them.”
Taipei jumped on the board quickly in the top of the first scoring on a fielder’s choice that came with the bases loaded and one out.
Starter Travis Seabrooke (Peterborough, ON) got into trouble with one out as he walked a batter before a single and another walk loaded the bases.
Canada didn’t help themselves in the fourth when a wild pitch and passed ball brought in the second Taipei run of the game, and an infield single in the fifth with a runner on third made it 3-0.
The Canadians mounted a comeback in the bottom of the inning as the red-hot Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) stroked a bases loaded doubled to right that scored two runs with Chris Thibideau (Dartmouth, NS) thrown out at home trying to score from first on the play.
O’Neill went 1-for-4 and spoke about Taipei’s starter’s performance after the game.
“He’s playing for his nation so you know he’s going to have good stuff,” he said. “He had a good change-up and was able to spot his fastball and not leave anything over the plate for me to get my arms extended.”
Seabrooke tossed a scoreless sixth before Sean Ratcliffe (Ajax, ON) came out of the bullpen for the seventh. With a runner on first and one out, Ratcliffe walked his second batter of the inning and was replaced by Daniel Procopio (Toronto, ON) who was able to get out of a bases-loaded, two-out situation with a strikeout to keep Canada within one.
In the bottom of the inning, Toby Handley (Whitby, ON) hit a one-out single and stole second before advancing to third when the catcher’s throw ended up in centerfield. With the infield playing in, Handley was thrown out at home plate on Chris Thibideau’s ground ball to short.
Taipei added a run in the top of the ninth to go up by two and retired Canada in order in the bottom of the inning to hang on for the win.
“They’re a tough team to pitch against and a tough team to play against,” said Seabrooke. “They play hard, they battle hard and you have to take things pitch-by-pitch against them.”
Box Score: Chinese Taipei 4 Canada 2
Notes: Canada will play Mexico tomorrow at 2:30pm CST/2:30am ET with JP Stevenson (Hunter River, PE) expected to start.
For tournament information including standings, schedule, rosters, stats and access to live scoring for all games, please visit: www.18ubaseballworldcup.org
You can follow the Junior National Team on their quest for gold throughout the IBAF 18U World Cup by visiting Baseball.ca or by following @baseballcanada on Twitter.
