Dramatic Chinese Taipei win over Germany gives Panama spot in WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup Super Round
World No. 1 Japan, No. 2 Chinese Taipei, No. 3 USA, No. 4 Korea, No. 7 Puerto Rico, and No. 9 Panama qualified for the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025 presented by RAXUS Super Round.
Japan finished Group A with a perfect record thanks to a shutout against Puerto Rico, which didn't affect the Boricua. Puerto Rico will play the Super Round together with Japan and Korea, who improved to 3-1 after defeating Cuba to confirm them in second place. Korea will take the field on Wednesday, September 9, to complete the game against South Africa, suspended with Korea leading 13-0 on September 7.
USA dominated Group B and completed their undefeated run with a win against Australia on Tuesday.
Chinese Taipei finished second but had to fight through extra innings to overcome a brave Germany. In a game delayed twice by weather alerts, Germany took the lead three times and had the potential winning run at second in the bottom of the seventh.
Panama prevailed in the three-way tie with Australia and Germany thanks to a better Team Quality Balance (TQB).
All games are live on GameTime, the WBSC OTT Platform
- Exceptions may apply in Taiwan, Korea and Japan
Standings WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025 presented by RAXUS
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | JPN | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 |
| 2 |  | KOR | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 1.5 |
| 3 |  | PUR | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 2 |
| 4 |  | CUB | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 3 |
| 5 |  | ITA | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | 4 |
| 6 |  | RSA | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 4.5 |
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | USA | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 |
| 2 |  | TPE | 4 | 1 | 0 | .800 | 1 |
| 3 |  | PAN | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 3 |
| 4 |  | AUS | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 3 |
| 5 |  | GER | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 3 |
| 6 |  | CHN | 0 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 5 |
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | JPN | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| 1 | | KOR | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| 1 | | PAN | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| 1 | | PUR | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| 1 | | TPE | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| 1 | | USA | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | AUS | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| 1 | | CHN | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| 1 | | CUB | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| 1 | | GER | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| 1 | | ITA | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| 1 | | RSA | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
Chinese Taipei-Germany 8-4
Chinese Taipei's starter, I-En Chung, didn't go beyond the first inning. He allowed one run on a bases-loaded walk and another one on a wild pitch. Chien-Fan Lai took over in the top of the second.
The world No. 2 scored on a groundout in the first and tied the game in the top of the second on Shen-En Zeng's triple. Fabian Speiss took over for Tom Apfelbaum in the top of the third.
Jacob Huber led off the bottom of the third with a triple and scored on a fielding error, giving Germany a new lead.
Chinese Taipei got to Spiess at the top of the fifth with an RBI single by Ting-Yi Jang. Germany called Finn Niemeyer from the bullpen with runners at the corners. With Yi-An Chang at bat, Cheng-Hao Wu tried to steal home and became the third out.
Germany took the lead back in the bottom half of the frame against Lan-Hong Su, the third Chinese Taipei pitcher. Niemeyer helped himself with an RBI single.
On the mound, the left-handed Niemeyer couldn't hold on to the lead. He allowed Chinese Taipei a new tying run on three consecutive singles in the top of the sixth. Kai-Qi Li got the RBI hit.
In the top of the eighth, Shu-Cheng Hsu bunted to advance the tie-break runners. Niemeyer got to the ball but threw it away from the first base bag, and both runners scored. Sheng-En Zeng followed with a single to left field and extended Chinese Taipei's lead to 7-4. Another run scored on a defensive error.
Chun-Hsi Lin walked the first batter to load the bases in the bottom half of the frame. He then retired the side in order to end the game.
Japan-Puerto Rico 3-0
Japan took the lead against Allem Borrero thanks to panic mounting in Puerto Rico's infield after a two-out bunt by Shintaro Sakamoto with a runner at second. Yokohama scored from second with the ball in the infield.
Borrero left with one out in the top of the third, and Puerto Rico handed the ball to Yandiel Reyes.
Left-hander Raito Okumura allowed two hits over three innings of work, while striking out five. Saku Hayase stepped to the mound in the bottom of the fourth.
Shintaro Sakamoto led off the fifth with a single. He advanced to second when Hyuma Okabe bunted for the hit and stole third.
Japan added a run in the top of the sixth. Ryota Okumura singled, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an error. They made it 3-0 in the top of the seventh on two consecutive wild pitches by Joniel Miranda, the third pitcher for Puerto Rico.
Korea-Cuba 3-0
Jaewon Oh tripled on the fifth pitch by Leandro Forteza. Oh was caught off the bag and became the first out when Junsang Eom grounded to third base. Eom reached first, advanced to second on an error and reached third on a wild pitch. Forteza walked Jaein Shin, and both runners scored on a defensive error.
Geonhwi Kim led off the bottom of the second with a double and reached third on Huiseong Lee's single.
Edenis Cruz took over for Forteza. He got Jiho Park to fly out to left field, but the ball was deep enough to become a sacrifice fly and extend Korea's lead to 3-0.
Cruz pitched five solid innings, limiting Korea to a pair of hits and two walks. Korea didn't need more runs to win. Their pitchers never gave Cuba a chance. Right-hander Joel Kim pitched 5.1 masterful innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out 10.
Jisung Park was perfect over 1.2 innings.
Italy-South Africa 5-4
Italy took an early lead on South African starter Stiaan Henning. Daniele Di Persia and Patrick Silva hit back-to-back singles for the first run, and two more runs scored on errors.
Rain delayed the game in the bottom of the second. Italian starter Santiago Arismendi came back after the match resumed, but left after two perfect innings.
In the top of the third, South Africa got on the scoreboard. Reliever Filippo Brunelli allowed a walk and hit two batters to load the bases, and South Africa scored on Jordan Pinto's sacrifice fly.
Di Persia and Silva had back-to-back hits to lead off the bottom half of the frame, and Italy scored on an error and Federico Magalotti's sacrifice fly. Henning left after four innings, and Jaden Du Preez took the mound for South Africa.
South Africa eroded Italy's lead. Joshua Botha hit a one-out double in the top of the fourth, stole third and scored on Henning's infield single. Dean Du Plessis and Tristan Fradd led off the fifth with back-to-back singles. Imaad Hassiem bunted them to third and second, and Du Plessis scored on a sacrifice fly.
Italy handed the ball to Ivan Larice in the top of the sixth and South Africa made it a one-run game. With two outs, pinch runner Donovan Wallendorf stole third and scored on the throwing error.
Caelum Stroberg, South Africa's third pitcher, got Di Persia to ground into a force out and retired Silva with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth.
Federico Magalotti took the mound for Italy in the top of the seventh. He struck out Aiden McKenzie to end the game with the potential tying run at third.
USA-Australia 11-1
Aussie starter Patrick Crotty led off the second, allowing a walk and hitting the next batter. Jaden Jackson bunted and reached on the defensive error. Crotty walked Emerson to make it a 2-0 game, and two more runs scored on an error and a bases-loaded walk. Australia handed the ball to Ethan Bickel to get out of the inning.
Coleman Borthwick pitched three perfect innings and left for Brody Crane.
In the top of the fourth, USA centre fielder Anthony Murphy robbed William Hardy of an extra-base hit.
Australia reached base on a one-out walk in the fourth and got on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth. Crane allowed a walk, hit a batter, and Benjamin Nesbit's single loaded the bases. USA handed the ball to Kaeden Watcher, who got the second out on strikes, and then allowed Australia their first hit on a wild pitch.
USA ended the game by the run difference rule with a seven-run bottom of the sixth. They made the most of a walk and two hit batters by reliever Deakin Filko and a defensive error with three consecutive singles. The game ended on a bases-loaded walk.
Panama-China 12-5
Panama opened the score with a three-run first inning against Zijian Zheng. William Cutshall and Daniel Mendez made the most of two densive errors with base hits and Carlos Castillo added a two-RBI triple. They were leading 7-0 when China got on the scoreboard against Josè Serva with a solo home run by pinch hitter Haonan Chen.
Serva earned the win, pitching five innings and striking out five.
In the late frames, both teams added runs, but Panama's win was never in danger.
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- The U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025 by the Numbers
- A look at the historical records
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