WBSC Premier12 Results: Drake Baldwin’s big day sparks United States win

Drake Baldwin got the start for USA baseball, and he excelled to help them to a close win

Drake Baldwin got the start in the United States final super round game, and Baldwin showed up to play for the United States. Baldwin found himself in a key spot in two United States rallies, the first coming in the first inning when he drew a walk and came around to score the second run of the game. Baldwin came up with a runner in scoring position in the third inning with a chance to add to that lead, and while he smoked one to center field it was right at the defender for the final out of the inning. Baldwin wasn’t done though, and in the sixth inning proved critical to the United States opening the game up. Baldwin got behind 1-2 in the count, but pulled off one of his specialties on a high fastball from Anthony Vizcaya. Baldwin ripped one the opposite way into the gap as he did so many times with Gwinnett this season, rolling it to the wall and cruising into second base for a double. Baldwin would come in to score on a sacrifice fly, and the United States would score three runs in the inning — all with two outs — to open the lead to 5-0. Baldwin capped his day with a two out hit in the seventh inning, slapping a fastball through the 5.5 hole for a single. The United States would go on to win the game, moving to 3-0 when Baldwin starts and 1-4 in all other games.

SCOREBOARD

Player of the Day
Drake Baldwin
2-3, 2B, BB, 2 R

Baldwin has struggled throughout this tournament, but in a day with few standout performers his spot in the lineup consistently kept rallies churning and he led all players in times on base and runs scored. His second inning walk put pressure on Venezuela that Jesus Vargas crumbled under, and he led off the big sixth inning with a double to help the United States open a commanding lead.

Pitcher of the Day:
Touki Toussaint, USA
4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K

Toussaint was the best performer on any side of the ball, putting together yet another good start for the United States rotation. While the USA has been troubled by runs allowed it hasn’t been due to a lack of starting pitching, where Toussaint joins a line of players who have done well in recent games. Toussaint carved through the Venezuela lineup early, and even after a hiccup in the second inning was able to skate through four scoreless innings. His short slider ate up Venezuelan hitters and allowed him to compile four strikeouts.

UNITED STATES 6 — 5 VENEZUELA

box score | replay

PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Drake Baldwin, USA: 2-3, 2B, 2 R
Ryan Ward, USA: 1-4, HR
Touki Toussaint, USA: 4 IP, 0 R, 4 K

The United States offense woke up against Venezuela, forcing the super round into chaos with a late win. The United States needed a big win to retain any chance of surviving the group, having to pass two teams in Team Quality Balance and needing a Chinese Taipei upset in order to make their way to the gold medal game. With a lesser margin of victory they are now relegated to the bronze medal game, but still had the opportunity to play spoiler to Venezuela who would have had a significant chance to advance to the gold medal game with a win.

The United States sent out Touki Toussaint to make the start, and Toussaint was terrific. Toussaint had one of his games where he had enough command of his pitches to live in the zone and not get hit hard, and early on Venezuela had trouble getting any action against him. Toussaint struck out two batters in the first inning, then issued a walk in the second inning in what was his wildest inning. He got behind the next two hitters, but got a fly out and a double play to escape with a shutdown inning. Venezuela managed a bit of two out success against Toussaint in the third inning with a single from Dixon Machado and a double off of the top of the wall from leadoff man Alexi Amarista putting two runners in scoring position, however he got Hernan Perez to line into a shift for a ground out to end the threat. Toussaint cruised through the fourth inning with another couple of strikeouts, but was quickly yanked when things got away in the fifth and he walked the leadoff man on four pitches. Toussaint utilized a hybrid cutter/slider to great effect, especially in the late innings, a pitch that hasn’t been a key part of his arsenal during his major league stints over the past few years.

The United States hitters faced off against Jesus Vargas, and for Venezuela it is a bit fortunate that the US only came away with two runs early in the game. Vargas allowed Chandler Simpson to lead off the game, and ever the dangerous man on the bases Simpson stole second and third base to put himself in scoring position. Vargas issued a two-out walk, control being a key issue that plagued him early, but facing Colby Thomas, who had homered in both of the USA’s super round losses, he was able to get a weak grounder to third for the final out. His luck would not carry over to the second inning. He walked Termarr Johnson and Drake Baldwin to start the inning off, and in a stroke of poor luck when Luke Ritter squared around to sacrifice them over Carlos Perez charged in too far and Ritter managed to slide the popped up bunt between first and the pitcher to reach and load the bases. Vargas managed to strike out Justin Crawford, but didn’t escape damage. Simpson’s base hit opened the scoring by chasing home Johnson, and Matt Shaw was able get down the line to avoid a double play allowing Baldwin to score.

Vargas largely settled in with his command after this and outside of a hit batter in the third inning cruised through the next two though with little help from his offense to get things even. A double in the fifth inning from Shaw and then a fly out by Carson Williams brought up the left handed Ryan Ward, and Venezuela pulled Vargas from the game. This worked, with Liarvas Breto striking out Ward and getting Termarr Johnson to ground out to prevent the United States opening the lead further. However, the USA offense still had more plans. Facing Anthony Vizcaya in the fifth inning Drake Baldwin fell behind early, but caught up to a high fastball and sliced it into the left-center field gap for a leadoff double. This would spark the biggest USA rally of the game. Luke Ritter followed with a walk, and though Vizcaya got the next two outs Baldwin was able to score the game’s third run on Simpson’s sacrifice fly. Then Matt Shaw smacked a single to score Luke Ritter and Carson Williams smashed a middle-middle Vizcaya fastball off of the top of the wall for an RBI double. The United States held a commanding 5-0 lead in the sixth inning, but once again their thin bullpen played a huge role in the game.

With Toussaint out Antonio Menendez did well, striking out two batters as he stranded the leadoff walk in the fifth inning then got the first out of the sixth, but when Cam Vieaux came in for the United States suddenly Venezeula started to scratch runs off of the lead. Vieaux allowed a leadoff single to Alexi Amarista, then after a walk Herlis Rodriguez got Venezuela on the board with an RBI base hit. Vieaux got exactly what he needed from Carlos Perez though — a ground ball straight at Termarr Johnson. Johnson flipped to Williams, who bounced a throw that Ritter scooped up for an inning-ending double play to briefly stop Venezuela’s surge. Venezuela kept fighting though, the way they have throughout this tournament. Eric Adler allowed a home run to Carlos Perez Jr. in the seventh inning to cut another run off of the lead, then Darell Thompson came in and continued his struggled this tournament. It didn’t start off all that poorly, a one out single sandwiched between a ground out and strike out, but Thompson couldn’t escape the inning. Carlos Perez crushed one off of the left field wall, only the fortunate carom and great pick up from Colby Thomas saving a run and holding Perez at first. It wouldn’t matter much. Venezuela went to Diego Castillo off of the bench to get a platoon advantage, and Castillo made his mark. Thompson got ahead 1-2, a strike away from escaping disaster, but Castillo sat on his fastball. Castillo went up in the zone and destroyed it, sending the Venezuela dugout into a frenzy as it cleared the left field wall for a game-tying three run home run.

While the United States were still tied they had to be rattled, and the five runs allowed by the bullpen crushed their chances of advancing. Still, there was a game to be played, and the United States was ready to play it. Carson Williams nearly produced magic against Enderson Franco. Williams turned and crushed the 2-1 pitch down the left field line, but it hooked narrowly foul to miss a go-ahead home run. Williams struck out on the next pitch, but that brought up Ryan Ward — the Premier12 leader in home runs. Ward hit four in the group stage, but had yet to leave his mark as he struggled in the first two games of super round play. Finally, he would come through again. Ward got a 3-2 fastball over the plate and came through clutch, answering Venezuela with a massive home run to center field to give the United States a lead. Zane Mills, who struck out Angel Reyes to end the eighth inning, took the mound in the ninth to try to close the game. Mills immediately got two outs, though upon issuing consecutive walks the building started to sweat it out. Mills had to contend with the red hot Hernan Perez, but Perez was no match in this at bat. He popped one up to the infield, Ritter securing the ball for an exciting win for the United States. For Venezuela the loss was a blow, but they were still alive and would need a Japan win of six or more runs to make the gold medal game.

CHINESE TAIPEI 6 — 9 JAPAN

box score | replay

PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Itsuki Murabayashi, JPN: 2-5, HR
An-Ko Lin, TPE: 1-2, HR
Shota Morishita, JPN: 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI

Venezuela was asking for a lot of help in this game, and in the first inning Japan seemed well on their way to providing it. Both of these sides have pitched phenomenally throughout the tournament, so the expectation was a low scoring affair, but it took on an entirely different shape from the third pitch Samurai Japan saw in their half of the first. Itsuki Murabayashi got ahead 2-0 in the count, then hit a laser off of a low changeup and hooked it over the left field wall for a leadoff home run. Po-Ching Chen would continue to struggle for Taiwan, walking Toshiya Sato on four pitches then hitting Ryosuke Tatsumi with the next. Shota Morishita then tagged him for a two-run double, and in only three strikes thrown Chen had allowed three runs. Chen finally got an out from Keita Sano, but it was clear he just didn’t have the control to continue and Taiwan quickly switched to Kuo-Hao Chiang. Chiang was able to settle things down, although he did allow a sacrifice fly to Morishita, and he held Japan scoreless through three innings to allow Taiwan to crawl back into the game.

After two solid innings the game spiraled for Japanese starter Takahisa Hayakawa, as he gave them a rare poor start in this tournament and let Taiwan gather momentum. His control went haywire, and he allowed two walks in the third inning, though he held Taiwan to only one run on a Song-En Tseng double. He seemed to be back in rhythm with a 1-2-3 fourth inning, but after walking the first two batters of the fifth it almost got away. A base hit scored another run to cut the lead to 4-2, then Hayakawa allowed two more walks (the last on four pitches) to force home a run and cut his start short. Sensing danger with the bases loaded, no one out, and a one-run game, the inning fell into the hands of Tatsuya Shimizu. Shimizu started playing with fire, dropping down 2-0 to Chieh-Kai Pan, but then Japan got a stroke of good fortune. Pan hit a grounder fairly sharply, but Shimizu reached down and snagged it above his shoe tops, firing home for an out and a double play. Shimizu struck out Kun-Yu Chiang to end the inning, stopping a disaster in its tracks.

Japan’s offense immediately woke up. Japan would load the bases with two outs thanks to a couple of walks and a single, bringing up Kotaro Kiyomiya with a chance to give Japan a major advantage. A wild pitch helped to bring home the first run of the inning, then the scuffling Kiyomiya broke the hearts of the Taiwanese team. Kiyomiya launched a 3-2 fastball into the right-center field gap, clinking it off the wall as the outfielders collided in the air trying to snag it off of jumps. Kiyomiya cleared the two runners and strolled in with a triple, immediately erasing all of the ground Taiwan had made up.

Fortunately for Taiwan they didn’t actually need to win, only to keep the game close, and they had an answer for Japan that would prove pivotal in the final standings. Koki Kitayama came in to try to notch a shut down inning for Japan, and he struggled. Taiwan netted a single and a double to put runners in scoring position, bringing up Chih-Cheng Chiu with a chance to get a few back. Chiu came through, hooking an outside changeup down the right field line and into the corner for a two-run double that cut their deficit in half. Yet again though, they couldn’t stop Japan. Ryoto Isobata’s drag bunt had him on base to lead off, and new pitcher Chih-Hsuan Wang could not stop the bleeding. Wang came in and immediately allowed a single to Sato, and Tastumi got each of those runs from the top of the inning back when he slapped a line drive down the right field line for a two-run double. This seemed to be the last real chance Taiwan would have in the game. Kitayama settled down and had a fantastic relief outing, striking out two batters each across the next two innings to cover three innings with six strikeouts. Taiwan was finally able to slow down Japan’s offense, but they couldn’t get a rally started. An-Ko Lin led off in the ninth with a single off of Rikuto Yokoyama, but it was to no avail. Yokoyama retired the next three batters to send Japan to the gold medal game with an 8-0 record and 27 straight international win. Still, not all was lost for Taiwan. Despite losing their game against Venezuela they managed to keep the team quality balance advantage by only losing by three runs, so they will advance to compete in the gold medal game against Japan. The gold and bronze medal games will be a repeat of the final day’s action.

Schedule for November 24th

United States (1-2) vs Venezuela (1-2) — 12:00 PM Local/10:00 PM EST Nov 21

Bronze Medal Game

Venue: Tokyo Dome – Tokyo, Japan

How to Watch: DAZN

Chinese Taipei (1-1) vs Japan (2-0) — 7:00 PM Local/9:00 PM EST

Gold Medal Game

Venue: Tokyo Dome – Tokyo, Japan

How to Watch: DAZN