USA beat Mexico in seven innings, clinch Super Round spot

Ryan Ward homered twice in the night leading a 16-hit offence for USA in Thursday night's 12-2 victory against Mexico on the last day of pool play in Group A of the WBSC Premier12 presented by RAXUS. With the win, USA finished Group A with a 3-2 record, tied with Panama, but they prevailed by winning their head-to-head matchup.

"Obviously we're very pleased at how we finished. We have a lot of young players that are very athletic, but they're learning how to play the game," said USA manager Mike Scioscia. "We stubbed our toe a couple times early in this series. You know, Puerto Rico beat us, Venezuela beat us, and these guys never put their head down. They kept their head up and they kept playing and they put it all together this evening in a big way and that was fun to watch."

Mexico scored first in the game, taking advantage of a pair of errors and a balk. Andres Alvarez reached on an error by Termarr Johnson, advanced to second on a balk, and scored on a throwing error by U.S. pitcher Rich Hill.

However, USA responded immediately in the top of the second. With two outs, Colby Thomas singled, and then Johnson smashed a two-run homer to right field, clearing the scoreboard.

An inning later, Justin Crawford launched an opposite-field home run off a 90 MPH fastball on the outside corner, extending the U.S. lead. Chandler Simpson then singled to center field and showcased his speed, stealing both second and third base, before scoring on a groundout to make it 4-1.

Changing speeds and delivery angles, veteran Rich Hill started for USA and pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and one run while striking out six. "Pitching into the fourth inning tonight was important for us, and he did a great job," said Scioscia regarding his starter. "Hopefully he'll continue to build his stamina and be important for us in the Super Round."

USA kept scoring consistently, crossing the plate twice in the fourth with RBI singles by Chris Okey and Chandler Simpson. One inning later, USA exploded with five runs, including a Ryan Ward homer and capped by a bases-clearing triple from Matt Shaw to give USA an 11-1 game. And in the sixth Ward homered again to make it 12-1. In the seventh, a dinger by Mexican shortstop Alan Trejo made it 12-2.

Estadio Panamericano was almost full for Thursday night's game however, Scioscia said his players handled the pressure very well. "They played great baseball tonight, and I think even for the younger players, it's just a great opportunity for them to really get a sense of playoff baseball, and that's really what this tournament is, it's playoff baseball, and we were fortunate to get through with the two losses and move on to Tokyo," he said.

This is the third time in a row USA makes the top four in the Premier12, winning a silver medal in 2015 and finishing fourth in 2019.

USA will travel to Tokyo aiming to be back in the podium. "Every team that's playing over in Japan right now are very, very tough, and anyone of them can win that group just like any team on our side could have done it, so no matter which teams are picked, they're going to be tough," Scioscia mentioned. "They all have good pitching, they play great defense, and obviously they're swinging the bat, so we're ready for a challenge, we know we have to play well to reach our goal, and hopefully we will."