The WBSC U15 Baseball World Cup got underway in Iwaki, Japan with six games of the first round on Friday. Five of the six games were lopsided affairs except for a 5-0 shutout by Cuba over Colombia. The lone European participant in the tournament, the Czech Republic, lost 4-14 (box score, video) to South Korea.
The Asian powerhouse scored in each of the first five innings, including a six-run rally in the third and a four-run fifth. The Czech team scored three runs against the Korean bullpen, but failed to avoid the ten-run rule. Marek Krejcirik reached base three times and drove in two. David Komorous, Martin Klaska, Petr Vojta and David Mares shared the workload on the mound.
In the other games Venezuela beat Mexico 11-1, Panama prevailed 16-1 over New Zealand, Team USA crushed Chinese Taipei 18-3 and Japan downed Australia 13-0.
Complete information about the WBSC U15 Baseball World Cup is available through www.wbsc.org. A live stream is offered for selected games on YouTube.