Taipei World Baseball Classic Qualifier: Nicaragua win again, Chinese Taipei claim first victory

World No. 16 Nicaragua beat No. 24 Spain 2-1 in extra innings while No. 2 Chinese Taipei beat No. 31 South Africa 9-1 on the second day of the Taipei World Baseball Classic Qualifier in the Taipei Dome on Saturday.

For the showdown between Nicaragua and Spain, who both were undefeated after day one action, Nicaragua sent Kenword Burton to the mound to face Yoanner Negrin of Spain.

Nicaragua struck first in the bottom of the first with Brandon Leyton’s solo shot to the left to give Nicaragua an early 1-0 lead.

Trailing by one run, Spain responded in the top of the third with a solo homerun from Carlos Colmenarez to even the score.

Both starters pitched one-run outings as Negrin went five and two-thirds innings with three strikeouts, and Burton was on the mound for four and one-third innings and fanned five.

In the bottom of the ninth Nicaragua reached third and was ninety feet away from scoring the winning run, however Spain’s reliever Rhiner Cruz struck out Juan Montas to end the inning and force the 10th.

Spain had runners on first and second with one out in the top of the 10th but was not able to advance before Nicaragua’s defence shut down the offence.

With Juan Montes on second base to start the bottom of the 10th for Nicaragua, Spain intentionally walked Chase Dawson before Eliam Miranda was also walked to load the bases. Benjamin Alegria walked it off with the single to give Nicaragua their second win of the Qualifier, putting themselves in a good position to qualify for the World Baseball Classic 2026.

“We watched the game last night (Spain vs. Chinese Taipei) and got to know their batting style, so our plan was to go inside, then outside, and force them to swing, and it worked,” said pitching coach Lenin Picota. “Our (starting) pitcher is very young so I called the pitches today, and he was able to deliver it.”

Nicaragua will face Chinese Taipei on the third day of the Qualifier on Sunday, and will have an opportunity to become the first team to advance to World Baseball Classic 2026 if they win.

Meanwhile, being defeated in front of a full house fans a night before was certainly disappointing, but Chinese Taipei regrouped and shook it off to defeat South Africa with the score of 9-1, collecting their first win in the Qualifier.

Playing in front of another sold-out crowd in the Taipei Dome with more than 35,000 fans, the hosts sent Tzu-Chen Sha, a member of the Athletics organization, to start, while Damon King was on the mound to start for South Africa.

Both teams went scoreless in the first two innings, and Chinese Taipei put a number on the scoreboard in the third inning when Nien-Ting Wu and Wun-Jie Chen both drove in a run to give Chinese Taipei a 2-0 lead.

In the fourth Chinese Taipei added another run on a bases-loaded wild pitch before Chieh-Hsien Chen drove another run to give Chinese Taipei a four-run lead.

South Africa’s offence responded in the bottom of the fourth. Tyler Smith led off with a single to centre before his younger brother Bradon Smith drove him in after one out to score the first run for South Africa.

Chinese Taipei added another run in the sixth on an inside-the-park-home run by Cheng-Jui Sung to make it 7-1. Sung rounded the bases in only 15 seconds for the first inside-the-park-home run recorded in the history of the Taipei Dome, which opened for international play last year. Sung went four for four in the game. Chinese Taipei managed to load the bases but were not able to score more and ended the inning with bases loaded for the second time in the game.

Another two runs were added for Chinese Taipei in the seventh, and Tung-Hsien Lee hit a two-run home run in the ninth to make it 9-1 en route to the first win of Chinese Taipei in the Qualifier.

“Our bats were patient in tonight’s game. Although we didn’t score runs in the first two innings but we were able to do so later and it just took the pressure away from the players,” said manager Hao-Ju Tseng. “We’ve got a lot of young players on the team, and they are known for their speed, and they had great plate discipline tonight, too.”

Chinese Taipei will face undefeated Nicaragua on Day 3 of the Qualifier while Spain will play South Africa.