Cuba puts Canada in trouble at U18 World Cup
Cooper Davis (Mississauga, Ont.) homered for Canada's lone run in an 11-1 loss to Cuba at the 18U World Cup.
Aug. 31st, 2015
U-18: Cuba shows no mercy on Canada
By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
OSAKA, Japan - A seven-run fourth inning combined with seven solid innings on the mound from Josimar Cousin propelled Cuba to an 11-1 “mercy-rule” win over Canada in Group B play at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup.
The loss drops Canada’s record to an even 2-2, while Cuba, 3-1, takes sole possession of second place behind undefeated South Korea at 4-0. Canada must now beat winless South Africa tomorrow and hope that Cuba can beat Chinese Taipei (2-2) in order to advance to the second round of the tournament.
“If you’re going to beat Cuba you have to play a complete game. You need to establish a presence on the mound to stop them, you need to play defence and get timely hitting,” said Canadian manager Greg Hamilton. “It’s always the case when playing them.”
Cuba came out swinging and got to Canadian starter Michael Brettell (Fonthill, Ont.) early and often as they used four hits, including three doubles, and two walks to score three runs in the bottom of the first. Brettell was removed from the game with two out and the bases loaded in favour of Tyler Whitbread (Camlachie, Ont.) who managed to get a ground out to prevent any further damage.
“We gave up three in the first, but it could have easily been five,” said Hamilton. “We didn’t have any answers early which makes it tough (to come back).”
Canada answered back with two out in the top of the third when Cooper Davis (Mississauga, Ont.) drove a 2-1 pitch over the wall in right field for a solo home run which turned out to be Canada’s only run of the ballgame.
Whitbread had success after taking over for Brettell in the first, at one point retiring seven out of eight batters he faced before Cuba got to him in the fourth as they used five hits, including a three-run triple, a walk and an error to score seven runs and increase their advantage to, 10-1.
“I don’t think it (the loss) had anything to do with us not being ready, I think it had to do with the reality of a team (Cuba) that jumped out early and we couldn’t stop them,” said Hamilton. “It wasn’t for a lack of effort on our part. The credit goes to them.”
Canada loaded the bases in the top of the fifth, but came up empty and Cousin shut them down the rest of the way as he allowed only three hits and a walk over seven innings of work, and struck out seven.
In the home half of the sixth, three hits including an RBI single brought in the 11th Cuban run of the game which set up the mercy rule win after Canada couldn’t produce any offence in the top of the seventh.
“We have to win tomorrow, obviously, to give ourselves a chance to get into the crossovers,” continued Hamilton. “Our goal coming in was to get to the crossover (games) and see what happens so it’s definitely a big game tomorrow.”
UP NEXT
Canada will face South Africa tomorrow (3:30pm JST/2:30am EDT) in the final game of Group B competition.
CUBA 11 (3-1), CANADA 1 (2-2)
Aug 31, 2015 at OSAKA (Nanko Chuo)
CANADA
ab r h rbi 2b 3b hr bb sb cs hp sh sf so ibb kl gdp po a e
ANDO 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 5 0
HUTZAL dh 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
HALL 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 1 0
NAYLOR 1b 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 7 0 0
POMPEY lf 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
DEVEAUX ph/lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
YERZY c 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 5 0 0
VAN RYCHEGHE ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ORIMOLOYE rf 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
HYLAND ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 1
DAVIS cf 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BRETTELL p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
WHITBREAD p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
VINCELLI p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 24 1 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 7 0 3 0 18 11 1
CUBA
ab r h rbi 2b 3b hr bb sb cs hp sh sf so ibb kl gdp po a e
LEON rf 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
GARCIA 2b 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0
ROBERT cf 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
COLAS dh 4 2 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
AGUILAR pr/dh 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
VARGAS 1b 4 1 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0
SUAREZ lf 3 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
VEITÍA 3b 4 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
YERA c 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 1 0
SÁNCHEZ ss 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
COUSIN p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals 30 11 13 10 3 1 0 4 1 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 21 10 0
CANADA
ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np
BRETTELL Michael L,0-1 0.2 4 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 6 8 2 0 29
WHITBREAD Tyler 3.1 6 7 6 2 1 0 0 1 0 16 19 1 7 59
VINCELLI Matteo 2.0 3 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 8 8 1 2 27
CUBA
ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np
COUSIN LA R. Josimar W,1-0 7.0 3 1 1 1 7 0 0 1 0 24 26 5 9 99
Umpires - HP: THOMAS T (AUS) 1B: TAKAHASHI K (JPN) 2B: TAKEDA M (JPN) 3B: NISHIGAI M. (JPN)
Start: 15:30 Time: 2:07 Attendance: 200
Weather: Drizzly Game notes: Scorers - TRAVAGLI M (ITA), IWASAKI M (JPN), OKAMOTO Y (JPN) TC - SANTIAGO G (PUR), NAGAKUBO Y (JPN)
Standings
Group A
Pos Team GP WO LO AVG GB
1 Japan 4 4 0 1000 0.0
2 United States 4 3 1 750 1.0
3 Australia 4 2 2 500 2.0
4 Brazil 4 2 2 500 2.0
5 Mexico 4 1 3 250 3.0
6 Czech Republic 4 0 4 0 4.0
Group B
Pos Team GP WO LO AVG GB
1 South Korea 4 4 0 1000 0.0
2 Cuba 4 3 1 750 1.0
3 Canada 4 2 2 500 2.0
4 Chinese Taipei 4 2 2 500 2.0
5 Italy 4 1 3 250 3.0
6 South Africa 4 0 4 0 4.0