WBSC Men's Softball World Cup Finals 2025 - Day 2: Tight race in Group B; Canada beat Venezuela in slugfest; Argentina & New Zealand face off
Welcome to the second day at the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup Finals 2025 in Prince Albert. Following a fantastic Opening Day that saw over 4,000 fans pack Prime Ministers' Park, the action continues with another set of four exciting matchups. As teams take the field today, the Super Round picture may begin to take shape, setting the stage for a dramatic finish to the group stage.
Australia defeated Dominican Republic, 9-2 in six innings, and grabbed a much needed win in the competition. Japan bounced back from yesterday’s loss to the Dominican Republic with a 5-4 win over USA in a back-and-forth thriller. With this results, all four teams in Group B head into the final day of the Opening Round with a 1-1 record.
Tomorrow, the Dominican Republic will take on USA at 11:30 (local time), while Australia and Japan will face off at 17:30. The winners of each game will secure an automatic berth in the Super Round.
In Group A, Canada defeated Venezuela, 11-9, in a high scoring game. In the final game, Argentina clash against New Zealand.
All games are available on the WBSC official streaming platform, GameTime.
Dominican Republic vs Australia
Australia came from behind against the Dominican Republic to clinch a much needed win today at Prime Ministers' Park in Prince Albert, Canada. Jack Besgrove struck out 11 in six innings of work to lead the Aussies to a 9-2 win.
The Dominicans jumped ahead with a solo homer by Juan Arias in the top of the second inning, but then Besgrove hold the Central American squad, giving his team a chance to comeback in the game.
Australian third baseman Riley James connected a clutch two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the fourth to give the defending World Champions the lead. They added six more in the bottom of the sixth, including a three-run homer by Scott Paterson, to finish the game by run ahead rule.
USA vs Japan
A go-ahead two-RBI single off the bat of Koki Sato in the bottom of the sixth inning gave Japan an essential 5-4 win over USA that put them back in contention in Group B.
Japan's designated player Yusuke Morita homered in the first inning to take an early lead off USA and Marco Diaz. In the fifth inning, the Americans rallied for three runs, including a two-run dinger by Blaine Milheim to give his team a 3-2 edge.
Both teams exchanged solo homers in their next at bats, with Ryuji Okawa tying the game at three in the bottom of the fifth and Jonathan Lynch returning the lead to USA in the top of the sixth.
A two-out, two-run single to right field by Sato decided the game for Japan.
Hiroki Ikeda was the winner for Japan, pitching 5.1 innings while giving up four hits and four runs with seven strikeouts. Shota Onodera pitched 1.1 scoreless innings in relief.
Diaz pitched six innings and gave up nine hits and five runs. He was charged with the loss.
Canada vs Venezuela
Brad Ezekiel homered twice to lead Canada to a wild 11-9 comeback victory over Venezuela, securing the host nation’s first win of the tournament.
Canada trailed 9-5 before rallying with six unanswered runs over the final two innings to seal a crucial win in front of their home crowd.
Venezuela’s offense struck early, with homers by José Dorantes, Rafael Flores and Pedro Flores in a four-run second inning.
Canada used four pitchers in the game, with Ty Sebastian delivering two scoreless innings in relief to help complete the comeback.
Venezuela sent five pitchers to the circle. Starter Luis Colombo returned later as a reliever and was charged with the loss.
New Zealand vs Argentina
Key News
- New Zealand, Venezuela take control of Group A; Dominican Republic, USA in Group B
- Family, pride and power: Elias Valerio's moment shines in Dominican Republic win
- USA veteran shortstop Cam Schiller on life, family and softball: “This is a fantastic game”
- Press conference: Head coaches, teams ready for battle as world's best are ready to open tournament on Tuesday
- WBSC Men's Softball World Cup Finals 2025: Watch every game live on GameTime
- 10 things to know about the most anticipated WBSC Men's Softball World Cup event in history
- By the Numbers
- Players to watch
- Eight contenders chasing glory
- Revisiting 59 years of Men's Softball World Cup history
Key Links