USA repeat as WBSC U-12 Baseball World Champions
World No. 3 USA defeated No. 1 Japan in the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2025 presented by RAXUS World Championship Final at the Pacific International Baseball Stadiums and Training Centre (ASPAC) in Tainan (TPE) to win their third consecutive World Title in the age group and sixth overall.
USA have won every edition of the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup except two - in 2019, when they finished seventh, and the inaugural edition in 2011, which they didn't participate in.
Tralling 1-0 in Sunday's game, USA took the lead in the bottom of the first on a two-RBI double by right-fielder Jack Carson.
"It felt great," said Carson postgame. "It was for the team, it got us on the scoreboard and started the whole rally.
"It's a very fine experience," Carson added. "It's just great playing for your country. It's not about you, it's about the other players on the team. It's very fun playing other countries and territories."
Up 3-1 after the first inning, USA cruised to a 7-1 win after scoring again in the fourth and fifth.
"I don't know if we cruised," commented manager Bryan Madsen. "It may have looked like it, but we faced excellent teams. Japan is a good team. We started peaking as a team. We came together at the right time, and all the credit goes to these kids and my coaches. I can't say enough about them."
USA outhit Japan, 10-3 in the final. Including the Super Round game, USA outscored Japan 15-1 and outhit them 24-6.
"I want to congratulate USA. They did a great job and I believe they deserved it," commented Japan's manager, Hideaki Okubo, through an interpreter. "To be honest, I didn't know what we could achieve with this team in the beginning," he added. "The way the players played and grew up through the tournament made me very proud of them."
While USA had outpowered their opponents in the previous two editions in 2023 and 2022, they played more as a team in 2025.
"We talked a little bit about the rule changes, there's no DH, the bats changed. Power is not as big. We had a few home runs, but we built the team differently. More athletic, more teamwork, more pitching. It worked out," added Madsen. "Coach [Wesley] Brooks did a great job with pitchers. Pitching is a big part of our success."
No. 4 Korea beat No. 2 Chinese Taipei in the third-place game and earned bronze, their first medal at the U-12 World level while Chinese Taipei finished off the podium for the first time.
The four makeup games
All Games are Live on GameTime, the WBSC OTT platform
- Exceptions may apply in Taiwan, Korea and Japan
The World Championship Final Live Blog as it happened
Right-hander Jaxon Spray took the mound for the United States.
Taiki Toyama led off smashing the first pitch off the fence in right field for a very deep single.
Spray walked the next batters and the runners advanced on a swinging bunt. Toyama scored the first run of the game on a wild pitch.
Yunosuke Ibaraki stepped to the mound for Japan.
Nolan Hatch singled on the fifth pitch he saw. Ibaraki walked the next batter, then got Christopher Chikodroff to ground into a double play. Hatch reached third on the play. The USA at-bat stayed alive on a walk. Right fielder Jack Carson drilled the fifth pitch off the wall in right centre for a two-RBI double, giving the US the lead.
Spray followed with a single, making it a 3-1 game. It was it for Ibaraki, and Japan handed the ball to right-hander Kusei Fukuyama, who got out of the inning with a groundout.
Barret Schell took over for Spray with two outs and a runner at second in the top of the fourth. He retired Toyama on a groundout to end the at-bat.
Christopher Chikodroff extended the USA lead with a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the fourth.
The USA opened the score in the bottom of the fifth. Russell McGee hit a one-out towering RBI double. Charles Hatch added two runs with a single to shallow right field.
Left-hander Ryota Shimizu replaced Fukuyama. He threw two balls, then got Kristian Valadez to ground into an inning-ending double play with his third pitch.
Schell worked a perfect top of the sixth to seal the win.
Key links
- Tournament website
- Schedule/Live scoring
- Live streaming
- Live clips on X
- Videos
- Photos
- WBSC Men's Baseball World Ranking
The U-12 Baseball World Cup 2025 Day by Day
- World Championship Final Japan-USA - A Preview
- Super Round - Day 3 recap
- Super Round - Day 2 recap
- Super Round - Day 1 recap
- Super Round and Placement Round schedule
- Statistic snapshot-Super Round teams
- Day 5 recap
- Day 4 recap
- Day 3 recap
- Day 2 recap
- Day 1 recap
- The Opening Ceremony
- U-12 Baseball World Cup preview
- The pre-tournament press conference
- Where to watch
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- Tainan, the home of the U-12 Baseball World Cup
- Historical records