Canadians In Tough at World Baseball Challenge
Saturday, August 17, 2013 @ 4:49 AM
Team Canada starter Ryan Eiswerth in action Friday against Chinese Taipei. Photo 250 News
Prince George, B.C. – Team Canada took care of the holes in their defence Friday night, but a lack of timely hits continues to cause problems for the club at the World Baseball Challenge at Citizen Field.
After committing a total of 11 errors through their first two games, the Canadians had just one throwing error Friday night against Chinese Taipei. But what brought them in on the losing end of an 8-2 score was the inability to connect at the plate when it mattered. The Chinese club had just four more hits than Canada, 11-7 were the totals, but 2 runs on the Canadian throwing error, a solo home run and a two-run shot paved the way to the victory.
China scored 3 runs in the second inning, one in the fourth, three in the 5th and one in the seventh. Canada’s two runs came in the third when they got three of their seven hits on the night. Team Canada left 6 runners on base while China stranded four.
Earlier in Friday’s afternoon match-up, JX Eneos (Japan) handed NWAAC (USA) their second straight loss of the tournament by a score of 8-5. It was a see-saw contest through the first five innings. Japan opened with two runs in the first, the US countered with 2 in the second. Japan scored 3 in the third and the Americans came back with 2 in the fourth. Two more runs in the top of the fifth made it 7-4 Japan. They added another in the seventh inning and the US scored once in the bottom of the 9th to make the final 8-5. The Japanese squad outhit the U.S. 11-7. The Americans committed 3 errors to Japan’s 2.
So the standings after four days of the World Baseball Challenge look like this:
Cuba Ciego de Avila Tigres 2 and 0
Chinese Taipei Nationals 2 and 1
Japan JX Eneos 2 and 1
USA NWAAC 1 and 2
Team Canada 0 and 3
Today’s 3pm game has Japan facing Chinese Taipei while the 7pm tussle features Cuba and the USA. The top three clubs advance to the playoffs, with the first place team advancing straight to the final.
Comments
Am impressed with the cubans they are big league.
Japan and Chinese Taipei – Good as any single or double A team.
Canada and USA – little league. Why throw together a bunch of Freshman Junior college players (USA) and high school looking guys (Canada) for a tournament such as this is just plain embarrassing.
Should have had the tournament in June or July before the best players have to return to their respective US colleges and Universities or other National tournaments.
Something to think about Mr. Swanson
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