The game for the bronze medal, which will be played between Venezuela and Chinese Taipei, will begin at 5 p.m., while the game for the gold medal, which will be played between Cuba and Japan, will begin at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, the final Super Round game of the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup was played in Mexico, the tournament’s hosts. Venezuela earned a spot in the bronze medal game against Chinese Taipei by dominating Mexico with a blazing 2-0 (3-2, 9-0) victory against the Mexican team.
All eyes were on the last game of the Super Round to see if either Venezuela (2-2) or Mexico (1-3) would make it through to the bronze medal game, even potentially at the expense of Chinese Taipei if Mexico would win with enough runs advantage. With Cuba (5-0 win-loss record) and Japan (4-1) beating Chinese Taipei (2-3) and Tunisia (0-5) respectively earlier on Saturday morning, all eyes were on the last game of the Super Round to see if either team would make it through to
Despite the fervent support of the home crowd, however, it was Venezuela who emerged victorious over their hosts. After a slow start, Mexico got off to a good start when Nelson Rodriguez scored in the first inning. However, it wasn’t long before Alvaro Gil scored for Venezuela, making a great run around third to home, evading the tag of Guadalupe Ayon to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning. Mexico continued to have the better start.
Rodriguez added another run for Mexico in the top of the fourth inning, bringing their score to 2-1. Mexico was able to defend themselves well enough to take the game into the fifth innings, but they were unable to add to their score. Pither Gimenez and Gil scored on a wild throw to home plate by Marion Castro, giving Venezuela a 3-2 lead in the first game of the match. Venezuela capitalized on the opportunity and quickly loaded the bases with no outs.
Venezuela scored seven runs in their first at-bat
Gimenez, Luis Marquez, Gil, Yohelis Colina, and Esquia Rengel each scored twice for Venezuela in the second match, which allowed them to keep the momentum they gained from the first match going into the second match. Mexico was unable to come back from that deficit, and Venezuela won the game 9-0 to clinch their spot in the game for the bronze medal. Mexico, meanwhile, was officially placed in fifth place.
After using their entire roster of players in the first match, Cuba defeated Chinese Taipei with a score of 2-0 (8-0 and 8-3) while Japan prevailed over Tunisia in three sets with scores of 0-8, 7-3, and 2-1.
Kenya recorded their second win of the Placement Round 2-0 (10-0, 1-0) over Lithuania to claim the eighth spot, while Hong Kong recorded their first win of the tournament 2-0 (6-5, 2-1) over France. Both of these victories came in the Placement Round. South Africa also had a successful finish, coming out on top by beating Korea 2-0 (6-0, 4-1) to take first place in their Placement Round group and finish seventh overall.
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