Baseball Canada – GIJANG, South Korea – Canada’s Junior National Team rode a five-run fifth inning and a four-run sixth to outlast Chinese Taipei 12-7 in their last contest at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 World Cup.
Canada concludes the event with an overall record of 4-4 for a sixth place finish.
“I’m really proud with the way our team came out and played tonight to get the win,” said Head Coach Greg Hamilton. “We showed a lot of character in playing for one another, our Junior National Team program and Canada.”
After being eliminated from medal contention after Friday’s loss to the United States and with Chinese Taipei having already qualified for Sunday’s championship contest, pride was on the line for the Canadian teenagers.
“It was important for our guys to come out and finish strong today,” continued Hamilton. “This event is the conclusion of a two-year cycle for our program and the last time these kids will play with one another for their country – it’s nice to finish on a positive note.”
Trailing 2-0 in the third inning, Canada tied the score after Raphaël Pelletier (Mascouche, QC) singled and later scored on a wild pitch while TJ Schofield-Sam (Brampton, ON) picked up his first of two RBI on the game with a RBI groundout.
The hits kept coming in the fourth as Canada plated five runs on five hits while adding four more in the sixth.
Owen Diodati (Niagara Falls, ON) had two hits and drove in three runs while Austin Gomm (Mississauga, ON) drove in two.
Dasan Brown (Oakville, ON) and Josh Walker (Victoria, BC) contributed two doubles each while eight of Canada’s batters recorded at least one hit.
On the mound, Adam Maier (North Vancouver, BC) worked five and two-thirds innings and fanned four batters to earn the win while Antoine Jean (Montréal, QC), Evan O’Toole (Bridgewater, NS) and Eli Saul (Vancouver, BC) all saw action late in the game.