The fight for a place in the final round got a bit more interesting on Sunday. Group A features four teams with three wins in the standings behind the USA, who hit six homeruns today. Chinese Taipei and Italy will make up the suspended World Cup opener tomorrow. The winner is going to be tied in first place with four wins. The loser goes back into the mix for third and fourth place.
Cuba is the dominant force in pool B play. Yadel MARTI led them with a brilliant start to an undefeated 5-0 record. Australia collected another walk-off victory to stay in a comfortable second place. Behind these two clubs, there are now three teams with the same record. Canada, Korea and the Netherlands are going to battle it out on the last two days in the preliminary round. The Dutch team is in a somehow underdog position at the moment with matches left against Korea and Cuba. A win against Korea on Tuesday is a must.
It was another so-so day for the European fraction in Taipei. The Netherlands (1-7 vs. Canada) and Spain (2-12 vs. USA) lost their games. Italy came through with an easy 8-0 shutout against South Africa. And finally, Germany won against Thailand and celebrated their first victory ever in the history of World Cup of Baseball.
Schedule for Monday
(all listed times are local)
Group A
18:00 Chinese Taipei (3-1) – Italy (3-1)
Standings after five days:
Group A
USA 4-1
Chinese Taipei 3-1
Italy 3-1
Panama 3-2
Japan 3-2
Mexico 2-3
Spain 1-4
South Africa 0-5
Group B
Cuba 5-0
Australia 4-1
Canada 3-2
Korea 3-2
Netherlands 3-2
Venezuela 1-4
Germany 1-4
Thailand 0-5