A clutch hit from Chiu Hsin in the bottom of the seventh inning on Saturday propelled defending champions Taiwan to a 2-1 victory over Italy in their WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup Group B opener in Sarasota, Florida.
Taiwan started strong, loading the bases on a single and two walks in the bottom of the first inning, but Italian starter Alessandro Ercolani pitched a timely strikeout to keep the runners at bay and allow his team to exit the inning unscathed.
Aside from a few wild spells early in the game, Ercolani had an excellent tournament debut, with just five hits in four innings, while giving up only one run in the fourth.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association via CNA
His solid performance was eclipsed by CPBL top draft pick Huang Pao-lo, who struck out seven and gave up only one hit over five innings.
Taiwan kept the opposition scoreless until the top of the sixth inning, when Italy capitalized on Huang’s walk with a single off reliever Lin Po-chun to tie the game 1-1.
In the bottom of the seventh, a lead-off double from third baseman Huang Chieh-hsi and the intentional walk of pinch hitter Zheng Jun-wei put runners on first and second. Chiu then sent a line drive to right field to bring home Huang Chieh-hsi and secure the win for Taiwan.
Taiwan, who won the tournament in 1983, 2010 and 2019, tallied seven hits to Italy’s three.
Closer Lin Sheng-en was the winning pitcher despite allowing two walks in his 1-1/3 innings on the mound.
Taiwan are now second behind Japan in Group B, which also includes Mexico, Panama, Italy and Australia, who Taiwan was to play yesterday.
Group A consists of Brazil, the US, Canada, South Korea, the Netherlands and South Africa.
After a round-robin first round, the top three sides from each group advance.
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