WBSC Premier12 Results: Drake Baldwin appears in pinch hit role

Baldwin made outs in two big spots as Team USA came just short of a comeback against Venezuela.

Venezuela and the United States played one of two incredible games in the 2024 WBSC Premier12 tournament, and Drake Baldwin had two critical opportunities to come through for the United States. Following a leadoff single in the eighth inning Baldwin was brought in to pinch hit, but he popped a ball up off of the end of the bat for the first out of the inning. Team USA failed to score, but Baldwin had one more opportunity to make an impact in the ninth inning. With the tying run on second base Baldwin had an at bat, but Venezuela brought in a lefty with a low release — an archetype Baldwin and most lefties struggle with. Baldwin battled, but watched a slider go past him for strike three, and the Americans never managed to score the runs they needed.

Player of the Day
Alonso Gaitan, Mexico
2-4, HR, BB

Gaitan probably would have preferred a win for his team, but his contributions to getting an early lead for Mexico and to his national team throughout this tournament are undeniable. Gaitan has been one of the hottest hitters in the Premier12 tournament thus far, and his lead off home run was the biggest positive play for the host nation. Gaitan has a 1.797 OPS in the tournament, carrying an offense that has otherwise struggled to produce consistent at bats in key moments.

Pitcher of the Day:
Mario Sanchez, Venezuela
6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K

Sanchez set the tournament-high with a ten-strikeout performance, carving through the United States offense with ease. Sanchez needed only 74 pitches to get through his six dominant innings, and save for a lone mistake in the fourth inning was nearly untouchable. The tournament has primarily been dominated by hitters, with pitchers typically facing short leashes and low pitch count limits, but Sanchez bucked that trend with what is, so far, the best performance of the WBSC Premier12.

SCOREBOARD

UNITED STATES 3 — 5 VENEZUELA

box score | replay

PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Mario Sanchez, VEN: 6 IP, 1 ER, 10 K
Matt Shaw, USA: 1-3, HR, 2 RBI
Herlis Rodriguez, VEN: 2-4, RBI

It was a terrific battle of starting pitching early in this game, with Venezuela’s Mario Sanchez and Team USA’s Zac Grotz trading zeroes through the early frames. Venezuela would strike first though, with Grotz’s own glove betraying him to start the inning. Grotz deflected a bouncer up the middle that otherwise would have been a routine play at short, allowing leadoff man Angel Reyes to reach safely and kick off a small rally for Venezuela. Francisco Arcia followed by sneaking one past first baseman Luke Ritter and into right field for a base hit, and Venezuela quickly found themselves threating to break through. A sacrifice fly scored Reyes, but Grotz was able to overcome some poor luck and finish out the inning with the sides separated by only a single run.

On the other side of things Sanchez was in full lockdown mode, befuddling American hitters and striking out five batters through three scoreless, one-hit innings. Sanchez found himself given a 1-0 lead. Sanchez was brilliant with his fastball and slider throughout his start, changing levels well with the four seamer to keep it above the hands of hitters when he needed whiffs, and burying the slider off of the plate on his glove side. His brilliance at locating that slider carried him through six innings, but one mistake to perhaps the hottest hitter in the tournament was all it took to tie the game up. Sanchez missed badly with a first pitch slider, then again let one slip, this time keeping it over the middle of the plate where Team USA’s Matt Shaw jumped on it for a leadoff home run. With the game now all tied up Sanchez came right back at the United States and kept chugging, continuing to dice up hitters.

His offense took little time to get that run back for Sanchez, as they jumped all over the American bullpen. Grotz got two outs on a strike out-caught stealing double play, but his day ended and he made way for Cam Vieaux. Brought in to retire the left-handed hitting Herlis Rodriguez, Vieaux was able to get weak contact, but Rodriguez split the gap between second base and shortstop, reaching base to bring up Diego Castillo. Castillo jumped on a Vieaux changeup and ripped it over third base, sending it into the left field corner for a double to score Rodriguez from third base. Once again Venezuela held the lead, and once again the American team was able to scratch back. Sanchez kept dominating, but when Chandler Simpson rolled one back to the mound Sanchez made some ill-advised decisions on defense. Sanchez made an impressive behind-the-back stop with his glove, but knowing Simpson’s speed picked up the ball and tried to make a throw from his but, rolling over to see first base and promptly sailing the ball into foul territory. This was far enough for Simpson to easily streak around to third base, setting Matt Shaw up to potentially give the United States another tie or their first lead of the game. Shaw got yet another elevated slider, and he got it solidly out to right field, but it fell short of the warning track. Still, more than deep enough to score Simpson, who tied the game back up at two. Once again, Venezuela responded on offense.

Vieaux had pitched a clean fifth inning to keep the game close, and in the sixth the American manager turned to Eric Adler to take on the top of the Venezuelan offense. Adler got into immediate danger. Shaw made a nice forehand stop on a ground ball from Carlos Perez, but his spinning throw sailed well-wide of first base allowing Perez to reach easily. Adler then walked a batter, and a sacrifice bunt set up Herlis Rodriguez and the middle of the lineup with plenty of opportunity to put their team back on top. Finally, one of the side broke through with a big inning, starting with Rodriguez’s second hit finding grass to score Perez for the go-ahead run. An awful bunt from Diego Castillo gave the USA a chance to get a critical second out with no other runs scored, but the middle infield failed to communicate and no one covered a Willie MacIver throw down to second base that then sailed into center field to score the runner from third. Another bunt attempted from Angel Reyes scored Rodriguez from third base, and Venezuela had a three-run lead that the United States could have easily prevented if not for multiple defensive mishaps.

Once Sanchez left, the United States had chances, like when Colby Thomas led off in the eighth inning with a hit up the middle. Termarr Johnson drew a walk to flip the lineup over with one out, but Simpson’s bunt attempted didn’t make it far enough up the third base line and he was thrown out at first. Venezuela then brought in Anthony Vizcaya, who struck out Matt Shaw to end the threat. Ritter led off in the ninth inning with a hit off of Vizcaya, and Ryan Ward drew a walk to follow, bringing up the tying run in the ninth inning with no one out. Carson Williams struck out looking, but Justin Crawford drew a walk off of reliever Alfredo Zarraga and the game got just a bit tighter. Thomas then battled for eight pitches with Zarraga before drawing a well-earned walk, scoring Ritter and moving the tying run into scoring position. Venezuela made yet another pitching change, bringing in lefty Oddanier Mosqueda to face off against the left-handed Drake Baldwin and Termarr Johnson. Baldwin got fooled by a sweeping slider, watching strike three go by in a critical spot. Johnson got his bat off of his shoulder, but chased a slider off of the plate and struck out to end the game.

PANAMA 3 — 2 MEXICO

box score | replay

PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Alonso Gaitan, MEX: 2-4, BB, HR
Steven Fuentes, PAN: 3.1 IP, 0 R
Luis Castillo, PAN: 2-4, R

Coming off of a big win against Puerto Rico, the hosting Mexico wanted to make an early mark against a Panama team that has been playing well this tournament. Leadoff hitter Alonso Gaitan made sure it would be as quick as it could be, taking the first pitch from Panama starter Wilfredo Pereira and depositing it in the left field stands for a home run. Mexico wasn’t satisfied with just one run, and to lead off the second inning Tres Barrera sat on a hanging slider and crushed it for another solo home run and a 2-0 Mexican lead. Alan Trejo came enticingly close to putting a third run on the board right after Barrera, but flew out to the warning track for the first out. Mexico seemed to be streaking to another win, but the bats went lifeless and Panama took advantage to make a comeback.

Panama had their own chance to get early runs off of Mexico starter Teddy Stankiewicz, as Stankiewicz walked Johan Camargo in the first inning to bring up the middle of the order. Jhonny Santos smoked a liner through the left side of the infield that rolled all the way to the wall for a two-out double, and when left fielder Julian Ornelas had trouble picking the ball up from underneath the wall Camargo made a sprint for home. Camargo, though, pulled up injured halfway to home and despite making his best effort was thrown out by the relay for the final out of the inning. Camargo would leave the game following this injury, robbing Panama of one of their experienced big leaguers. Meanwhile Stankiewicz settled down and threw two more good innings before Panama’s offense awoke in the fourth. Ruben Tejada turned on a slider that Stankiewicz left up in the zone, ripping it to the wall in left field for a leadoff double. This time Panama would take advantage, Luis Castillo driving a single through to get Tejada to third base, and a ground out scoring the first run from Panama. With two outs Stankiewicz got ahead of seven-hitter Jose Ramos 0-2, but failed to put him away, eventually drawing the count full. Stankiewicz left another slider up over the plate, and Ramos calmly deposited the ball into the outfield for a game-tying base hit. The game had drawn even, and it stayed there as both bullpens did a terrific job at shutting down the opposing team.

Panama’s pitching hero was Steven Fuentes, who in relief of Wilfredo Pereira was able to cover 3 ¹⁄₃ innings and blank the Mexican offense. Mexico had no answer for Fuentes, failing to put up any serious rallies, but after retiring the first batter in the seventh inning Fuentes pulled up with what seemed to be a leg cramp. Fuentes had to be pulled from the game, but his replacements carried on in his absence. Abdiel Mendoza finished off the seventh inning with only one runner allowed on base, and Miguel Gomez and Alberto Baldonado each pitch perfect innings to shut down the rest of the game. All Panama needed to do to win was score once, and they, too were struggling. In the top of the 7th inning a couple of two out singles posed a threat, but Joshwan Wright’s chopper up the middle was fielded easily by Alan Trejo to retire the side and let Mexico breathe a sigh of relief.

Tejada led off in the eighth inning for Panama, not a welcome sight for Mexico as he has been one of Panama’s two hot hitters through the first three games. Tejada hit one solidly, but right to Trejo at short, who in a pivotal mistake for the game short-hopped a throw over to first that Jose Rojas failed to scoop. Tejada reached safely, and this mistake would come back to sink Mexico. Pitcher Jesus Cruz got a key strikeout of Jhonny Santos, but after falling behind 3-1 to Luis Castillo was not able to get the lefty out. Castillo ripped a base hit through the right side of the infield, and Tejada streaked around to third without a throw. Carlos Xavier Quiroz put one in the air to right field, deep enough that the throw never had a chance, and the defensive mishap from Trejo turned into the go-ahead run for Panama in the eighth inning. Trejo had a chance to redeem himself in the ninth inning, but flew one off of the end of the bat that Jose Ramos collected for the first out. CJ Hinojosa followed, and he lifted a dangerous fly ball out to left field. Santos drifted back, collecting himself at the wall, but the fly ball died short, landing a few feet shy of the wall on the warning track. Mexico’s hottest hitter, Alonso Gaitan, was their final hope of life in the game, but Baldonado fooled him with a rare changeup, dotting the inside corner for a called strike three.

Schedule for November 12th / 13th

GROUP A – November 12th

Panama (2-1) vs United States (1-2) — 7:00 PM Local/9:00 PM EST

Venue: Colosa del Pacifico – Tepic, Mexico

How to Watch: DAZN

Netherlands (1-1) vs Puerto Rico (1-1) — 8:00 PM Local/9:00 PM EST

Venue: Estadio Panamericano, Guadalajara, Mexico

How to Watch: DAZN

GROUP B – November 13th

Australia (0-0) vs Japan (0-0) — 7:00 PM Local/5:00 AM EST

Venue: Vantelin Dome – Nagoya, Japan

How to Watch: DAZN

Dominican Republic (0-0) vs Cuba (0-0) — 6:30 PM Local/5:30 AM EST

Venue: Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium – Taipei City, Taipei

How to Watch: DAZN

South Korea (0-0) vs Chinese Taipei (0-0) — 6:30 PM Local/5:30 AM EST

Venue: Taipei Dome – Taipei City, Taipei

How to Watch: DAZN