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U-18 World Cup: Canada suffers heartbreak in opener

(Photo: WBSC/Christian Stewart)

THUNDER BAY, Ontario – Canada had the tying and winning runs in scoring position in the bottom of the tenth but could not cash them in and suffered a heartbreaking, 7-6 loss to Chinese Taipei to open the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup.

Box Score – Chinese Taipei 7 Canada 6 (10 innings)
Highlights – Canada vs Chinese Taipei

Tied, 5-5, after nine innings, Taipei scored two runs off reliever Harley Gollert (Toronto, ON) coming on an RBI single and run-scoring ground out to go up by two.

International rules start extras with runners on first and second and Archer Brookman (Pointe Claire, QC) came through with a leadoff single to second base that scored pinch runner March-Antoine Lebreux (Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, QC) and put runners on the corners. Denzel Clarke (Pickering, ON) then drew a walk before Taipei’s Liu Chih-Jung made a game saving play at shortstop, making a backhand stab on a Dondrae Bremner (Toronto, ON) smash and firing home for the force out. Back-to-back strikeouts ended the game.

The game featured plenty of walks with Canada issuing 11 free passes while Taipei issued 13, and some great defence highlighted by a Denzel Clarke (Pickering, ON) diving catch in the fourth.

“We faced a real good team tonight and came up short,” explained Canadian Manager, Greg Hamilton. “The important thing for us is to forget about this one as fast as possible and focus on tomorrow’s game.”

Canada will face Nicaragua (0-1) tomorrow at Port Arthur Stadium at 8pm ET.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the first and with Edouard Julien (Québec, QC) on first base, Clayton Keyes (Calgary, AB) belted the first pitch he saw the opposite way over the right field wall thrilling the near capacity crowd at Port Arthur Stadium and giving Canada an early 2-1 lead.

The offence continued in the third, as Canada used an Archer Brookman single and a sac fly off the bat of the Denzel Clarke (Pickering, ON) to score two and take a three-run lead.

Canada starter Wesley Moore (Surrey, BC) settled in after a shaky first and held Taipei off the scoreboard until the fifth when a two run single brought them to within one.

Canada took a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the inning when Archer Brookman ripped a one-out, solo home run over the left field wall and score what looked to be an important insurance run. Brookman finished 3-for-4 and drove in three runs.

Taipei continued to press however and took advantage of two Cade Smith (Abbotsford, BC) walks to later come away with a two run single, off Harley Gollert, that tied the score.

Fans can watch tomorrow's game against Nicaragua on the WBSC’s YouTube channel.

WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup Schedule
WBSC Live Streaming

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