Defending champion Chinese Taipei edges Team Italy 2-1 in U18 Baseball World Cup

Defending champion Chinese Taipei edges Team Italy 2-1 in U18 Baseball World Cup
10/09/2022
Defending the U18 Baseball World Cup throne, Chinese Taipei defeated Team Italy 2-1 at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida on Saturday, September 10, 2022.

Defending U18 Baseball World Cup champion Chinese Taipei beat Team Italy by a slim 2-1 margin on day two of the international competition at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida on Saturday, September 10, 2022. After suffering a 6-0 shutout to top-ranked Japan in their 2022 U18 Baseball World debut, the Italians were faced with another challenging game against Chinese Taipei.

Clearly the underdog, Team Italy played with heart in the 2-1 loss. Azzurri U18 manager Francesco Aluffi called on Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospect Alessandro Erocolani to combat Chinese Taipei. The Italian ace threw three scoreless innings before an unfortunate fourth inning and allowed five hits with two strikeouts and two walks during his 71-pitch appearance.

Chinese Taipei starting pitcher Pao-Lo Huang kept the Team Italy offense silent and threw innings of no-hit ball before Williams Wong doubled in the top of the fourth inning.with two outs. Pao-Lo Huang dug deep and registered his fifth K with a strikeout of cleanup hitter Andres Annunziata to end the scoring threat.

Alessandro Erocolani returned to the mound in the bottom of the fourth inning and surrendered a ground rule double to Yi-Lei Sun, who advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Chieh-Hsi Huang and scored on a wild pitch for the first run of the game.

With a slim 1-0 advantage heading into the fifth inning, Chinese Taipei starter Pao-Lo Huang gave up a leadoff single to Team Italy captain Tommasso Adorni but protected the lead with strikeouts of Filippo Venditti and Marco Ragionieri and a Niccolo Funzione groundout.

Team Italy went to the bullpen in the bottom of the fifth inning when relievers Pietro Verzin and Diego Luciani held Chinese Taipei hitless. The Italians took advantage of a leadoff walk Edoardo Cornelli issued by reliever Po-Chun Lin in the top of the sixth inning to tie the contest 1-1. Ensuing, strikeouts of Alessandro Laise and Manuel Zazza put the pressure on Williams Wong, who worked the count for a walk. With runners on first and second base, Andres Annunziata came through in the clutch with an RBI single and put Team Italy on the board. Reliever Shen-En Lin induced a Tommaso Adorni groundout to limit the damage.

Relief pitcher Diego Luciani returned to throw an easy 1-2-3 out sixth inning. Team Italy had a golden opportunity in the top of the seventh inning when Filippo Venditti was hit by a pitch thrown by Shen-En Lin, but Marco Ragionieri hit into a 3-6-1 double play. A possible two-out rally started when Niccolo Funzione and Edoardo Cornelli were granted back-to-back walks, but a strikeout of Alessandro Laise ended all hopes for Team Italy.

Reliever Diego Luciani gave up a leadoff double to Chieh-Hsi Huang in the bottom of the seventh inning before being replaced on the mound by Davide Montanari. After an intentional walk to pinch hitter Jun-Wei Zheng, Hsin Chiu hit a walkoff RBI single down the right field line to give Chinese Taipei the 2 to 1 victory over Team Italy.

ITALY-CHINESE TAIPEI BOX SCORE

Team Italy travels to LECOM Park in nearby Bradenton for a clash against fourth-ranked Mexico on Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 3 pm (ET). The U18 Baseball World Cup continues through Sunday, September 18, 2022.

TEAM ITALY SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

TEAM ITALY U18 BASEBALL NEWS

U18 BASEBALL WORLD CUP SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

U18 BASEBALL WORLD CUP LIVE STREAM

Forza #Italia!

by Roberto Angotti

(Phjoto of Team Italy manager Francesco Aluffi by MG/Oldman Agency)