U21 World Cup: Day one of winners bracket

Today the teams in the winners bracket started their games.

The games of today were dominated by the teams from Southeast Asia.

The Czech Republic was no match for Japan, who beat them 15-0 in a five inning mercy rule game. Japanese starter Masaru Nakamura pitched four perfect innings, striking out six.

Taiwan was leading Australia 5-0 at the beginning of the eighth inning when Australia got within two runs of Taiwan. But the Asians stepped on it in the bottom of the same inning and scored four more runs to reach the final score of 9-3. Shortstop/leftfielder Chieh Shien Chen was the best hitter for Taiwan, with three hits out of four at bats and driving in three runs.

South Korea took on Nicaragua. Korea took a 2-0 lead in the first inning but Nicaragua tied the game in the bottom of the third. But that was all the South Americans could do. In the remainder of the game the Koreans proved to be way too strong and scored seven more runs. Left fielder Dohyun Kim was the best hitter for Korea, going 4 for 5 with three RBI.

The standings after the first day in the winners bracket