U21 World Cup: Results of day two
Today there was one surprise as far as I am concerned.
In the opening game of today, New Zealand beat Mexico 9-5. Mexico took a 1-0 lead in the first but the Kiwis scored two in the second inning and never looked back. A big inning for them in the seventh when they scored four runs. Leading 9-2 in the ninth, the New Zealanders got into trouble a bit when their pitchers loaded the bases and threw a couple of wild pitches, gave up some walks and hit a batter with a pitch. The Mexican did take advantage by scoring three runs but that wasn’t enough the overtake the Kiwis. Markable feat is that New Zealand’s starter, gave up eight walks in 6.1 innings and didn’t record a strikeout.
One run in the bottom of the first inning was all that the Czechs could score vs the almighty Taiwanese. Taiwan had a 5-1 lead at the end of the sixth but stepped on it in the eighth and the ninth inning when they scored five and six runs respectively.
Apparently the Dutch struggled with the time difference. The team just arrived yesterday and had to play their first game today, so they didn’t have much time to deal with the jetlag. For four innings both teams kept each other in check but in the fifth the Aussies, who field a team with only professional players, had a big inning when they scored five runs. The Dutch answered by scoring their only run in the fifth. The Australians scored three more in the eighth and two more in the ninth to reach the final score of 10-1. The Dutch were outhit 4 to 11.
Despite collecting as many hits as the Italians, Korea beat the Azzuri 12-6. Two wild pitches and nine walks made the difference.
Japan only needed seven innings to erase Venezuela. Venezuela scored the opening run in the second inning and kept the Japanese at bay in the third, the Japanese scored two runs in the fourth and rallied in the fifth and the seventh inning when they scored four runs in each inning. Japanese starter Naoyuki Uwasawa pitched five innings and fanned nine batters.
Standings:
