Five Dutch pitchers defeat Chinese Taipei in nail-biter

World No. 7 the Netherlands earned the first WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2024, beating Chinese Taipei 7-5. in the last game on Field 1 at the Shaoxing Baseball & Softball Sports Centre in China on Saturday.

The Dutch built their success in the first inning with a four-run rally against three Chinese Taipei pitchers. Five pitchers protected it.

The Netherlands wasted no time. Jackey Josepha welcomed Chinese Taipei starter Li-Chen Wu by driving his fifth pitch into the gap in right-centre for a leadoff stand-up double. The Dutch centre fielder advanced to third on a passed ball. Donovan Antonia drove a full-count hanging pitch off the wall in left field for an RBI double.

It was it for Wu. Reliever Jun-Wei Zhang walked the bases loaded with one out, got the second out on strikes and allowed back-to-back singles to Marvin Jacobus and Gedionne Marlin. He left with the Netherlands leading 4-0. Left-hander Pin Hong Chen got the third out on strikes.

It took only four pitches for Chinese Taipei to get on the scoreboard. Chia-Wei Lin got to left-hander Dylan Farley with a monster home run to left field.

The following scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the fourth. Farley hit Chia-Wei Lin to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Nian-Hao Wang brought Lin to third with a single to right field. Farley got the first and second out on strikes. He hit Bo-Rui Huang to load the bases, but got out of the jam with another strike out.

The Netherlands opened the score in the top of the fifth. Chen left for Yu-Ting Lu with runners at third, second, and one out. He allowed a run on a wild pitch, then struck out Piternella to record the second out. The Netherlands got to him with a single by Jair Von Borkulo and a double by Tilsamy Melfor to extend the lead to 7-1. Po Huai Yin took the mound and ended the at-bat.

Chinese Taipei loaded the bases against new pitcher Rick Rizvic in the bottom of the fifth. A run scored on a sacrifice fly by Chia-Wei Lin. The Netherlands relieved Rizvic with hard-throwing right-hander Justin Morales, who loaded the bases with a walk.

The Netherlands failed to complete the double play on a sharp grounder to shortstop by Heng-Yu Ho and Chinese Taipei cut the gap to 7-3. With the runners at the corners and two outs, Morales struck out Shun-Ho Wang to end the inning.

Morales left in the bottom of the sixth with runners at second and first and no outs. A defensive error plagued New pitcher Koen Van' T Klooster and Chinese Taipei scored on sacrifice flies by Chun-Wei Liu and Jun-Wei Zheng.

Van'T Klooster left for Jelie Van der Lelie with the potential tying runs in scoring position. The fifth Dutch pitcher got Nian-Hao Wang looking at the third strike to close the inning.

Van der Lelie worked a quick bottom of the seventh to give the Netherlands their first win of the tournament.

The Netherlands (1-1) will play No. 6 Korea on Day 3. Chinese Taipei (0-2) will already face elimination against No. 17 Nicaragua.