Italy won their preliminary round game on Tuesday against the Czech Republic to secure their first win at the World Junior AAA Baseball Championship in Edmonton, Canada. The other two European teams Netherlands and Russia lost versus Australia and Korea. Host Canada beat Puerto Rico 18-7, so only team USA and Korea are still undefeated in the tournament. They will face each other tonight.
The Italian team scored four runs in the first two frames en route to a 7-1 victory against the Czech. Francesco Cozzolino (2-2, 3 BB) and Massimo Pesci (2-3, 2 BB) reached base in nine of ten plate appearances. Seven players scored runs. Vojtech Zaruba had three hits for the Czech Republic. Andrea Pizziconi pitched five innings in relief of Valerio Simone to pick up the win. Jan Tomek took the loss, after giving up four runs in three innings.
Australia scored twelve runs in the first two periods against the Dutch team to take a fast 12-2 lead in a 14-2 win. Erik Van Dorp had three hits for the Netherlands. Mitchel Koot and Bjorn Hato drove in both runs. Scott Romiemborgh gave up ten earned runs in 1 2/3 innings for the loss. David Kandilas had three hits and three RBI for the Aussies. Six players scored twice, four had two RBI. Chris Doyle pitched five innings for the win.
Korea is one of the favorites to win it all at the event and showed Russia why. They crushed the European underdog 17-1, scoring in five of the first six frames. Young Suk Jang went two-for-two with four RBI. Byungil Oh drove in three. Ju Hyeon Jung and Ji Hwan Oh each scored three times. Ruslan Izmaylov scored the lone Russian run on a hit by Maxim Shevchenko. Maxim Udalov took the loss, allowing twelve earned runs in five innings.
USA starter Matthew Purke struck out eleven in a complete game shutout against Mexico (2-0). Nealan Fontana reached on four walks and scored both of the American runs. Canada, led by Brett Lawrie (3-4, 2 BB, 3 Runs, 6 RBI) overcame an early 1-6 deficit to crush Puerto Rico 18-7.
Results July 29th:
Italy – Czech Republic 7-1
CZE 000 010 000 1 7 2 ITA 130 002 01X 7 9 2
Netherlands – Australia 2-14
AUS 570 200 0 14 14 3 NED 200 000 0 2 6 3
Korea – Russia 17-1
RUS 000 001 0 1 4 5 KOR 265 031 X 17 18 1
Cuba – Taiwan 13-3
TAI 000 210 0 3 9 5 CUB 123 103 3 13 15 2
USA – Mexico 2-0
MEX 000 000 000 0 4 1 USA 101 000 00X 2 6 0
Puerto Rico – Canada 7-18
CAN 120 654 0 18 16 2 PUE 600 000 1 7 6 3