Premier 12, day 5: three close games and two blow outs
On day five of the Premier 12 there were no surprises.
Group A:
Canada 9 – 8 Chinese Taipei 
In a close game between Canada and Chinese Taipei, the Canucks stayed at the right side of the score, though it was barely.
For a home crowd of only 10,245 Taiwan took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Chun-Hsiu Chen hit a two run homerun that cleared the left center field wall. But Canada bounced back in the next inning as Tyler O’Neill drew a walk, adavanced to second on a balk, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Jordan Lennerton’s double to left center field. With a score that went back and forth, the Taiwanese scored three runs in the eitght to get within one run. With already a run scored in the eighth, Po-Yung Wang doubled to left center field and drove in two runs. But with the tying run at second base, Chih-Hao Chang flied out to right field for the final out of the inning.
Canadian Shawn Hill pitched five innings, enough for the win. He gave up four runs on six hits, walked one and struck out two. Best hitter for Canada was DH Brock Kjeldgaard, who went 2 for 3 with a triple and two RBI.
Puerto Rico 7 – 8 Cuba 
In a game where Cuba led most of the time, Puerto Rico tied the game in the ninth with a five run inning.
With a five run lead, Cuban manager Victor Mesa probably thought that a five run lead would be enough as he stirred up the line up as he replaced a couple of fielders with bench players. But singles by Jimenez, Pantoya, a double by Feliciano, a hit by pitch for Lopez and a homerun by Thon tied the game at seven, so extra innings were needed as Cuba did not score in the ninth.
But after the tie-breaker rule put runners on first and second and a walk by Jay Jordan Gonzalez drew a walk to load the bases, the Puerto Ricans could not cash in. Cuba on their turn moved Yordan Manduley to third on a sac fly, hit Alfredo Despaigne. A 3-6 force out at second base, hit by Yasiel Santoya drove in Manduley for the game winning run.
Danny Betancourt earned the win as he retired the final two hitters of the 10th inning. The best hitter for Cuba was Yuniesky Gurriel, who went 2 for 4 with three runs batted in.
Standings Group A
Group B
Venezuela 2 – 13 South Korea 
A blow out score in group B as South Korea crushed Venezuela.
In the first inning, South Korea took a 3-0 which proved to be enough as Venezuela scored only two innings later. Korea scored four more runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and three more in the sixth, to reach the final score that led to a seven inning mecry rule game. Jaegyun Hwang went 4 for 4 for Korea with three RBI and two runs scored as he singled twice and homered twice.
Daeeun Rhee earned the win after five innings of work. He gave up two earned run on six hits, walked one and struck out two. Carlos Eduardo Monasterio took the loss for Venezuela. In 0.2 innings he gave up three runs on four hits as he walked one but didn’t strike out a hitter.
Best hitter for Venezuela was catcher Juan Carlos Apodaca, who went 3 for 3 with a solo homerun.
United States 10 – Mexico 0 
Another mercy rule shortened game as the USA beat up Mexico 10-0.
Mexico was outhit 4 – 13 and got runners in scoring position twice. But they never were able to cash in.
US pitcher Zack Segovia pitched six innings in which he allowed four hits, walked one and struck out four. First baseman Matt McBride played a helluva game as he went 5 for 5 with three runs batted in and two runs scored. Humberto Sosa was the only Mexican who got multiple hits as he went 2 for 2.
Japan 4 – 2 Dominican Republic 
A much more exciting game was the one between Japan and the Dominican Republic. Japan took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Tetsuto Yamada double with two outs and eventually scored on a dropped fly ball by right fielder Aneury Tavares. In the top of the fourth, Japan extended the lead with a run.
The Dominicans tied the game in the seventh as they scored two runs when Ronny Rodriguez homered and took Teoscar Hernandez with him. But eventually Japan walked away when Sho Nakata doubled with runners on third and second to drive them in for the 4-2 win.
Yasuhiro Ogawa pitched three innings in relief to earn the win. He gave up two runs on two hits and fanned one.
Sho Nakata was Japan’s best hitter with two hits out of four at bats and three RBI.
Standings Group B:
