By Gabriel Fidler, Managing Editor.
Germany fought bravely in a heavy matchup against the United States, while Italy put many runners on the base against Puerto Rico, but could not completely break through in the World Cup campaign under 18 baseball, because both European countries took losses on the third day in Okinawa. In the meantime, the South -Africa match against World No. 4 South Korea looked like it could end after only five frames before the rain influenced the game.
Puerto Rico – Italy
For the second consecutive day, the Italians were undone with a quick start of an opponent who used each error. With two out in the first of the first and the bases-loaded via the free pass, Italy committed a precious defensive error with which Puerto Rico could score a few. A wild pitch led to a third run and Italy was in a 3-0 hole without having surrendered a hit.
After switching off the Starter of Italy without outs and two in the second, Christian Tontini came in and gave Azzurri Some hope, getting the next three batters easy, recording a few punch-outs. After a scoreless third third, Puerto Rico finally broke through against the right -handed, with Doubles from Enrico Carrion and Javeth Carrion that led to three runs.
Puerto Rico’s starter Keniel Miranda threw four scoreless innings with seven strike-outs, although five Italians reached base. Italy finally came to the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth, with Federico de Cristan and Aldo Pavarani who worked back-to-back walks to start the frame. The Cristan scored a mistake and moved Pavarani to third place, allowing Patrick Silva to lift a flyball for a sacrificial fly and a second point.
Down 6-2, Italy continued to fight, and put two in the sixth with one, but eventually left the bases full. Federico Magalotti was Azen on the hill in the last two frames, so that only a walk to the seven batters he spent led. In the bottom of the seventh, Alessandro Garaviglia defeated a two-out Infield Single, but was left behind and Puerto Rico claimed the four-run victory.
Italy pulled no fewer than nine walks and added three hits, but hit 0-out-7 with two walks with runners in score position and 0-out-16 with four free walks with runners at the base. Garaviglia had two hits for Blauw-Wit, while the Cristan was a spark plug of the nine place, which made walks in all three of his board performances.
US – Germany
The United States benefited from a wild start by Matthias Bullman and scored four points on a few two-out singles in the first of the first. From that moment on, however, the game was a more competitive affair and Bullman would throw a few scoreless innings against the third rank of the world.
Germany came on the scoreboard against Matthew Sharman in the bottom of the fifth with the US with 7-0. Germany made the best of a throwing error with singles by Jakob Hiber, Finn Niemeyer and Owen Fierlbeck, which reduced the gap to 7-3. Unfortunately for Baseball Deutschland, Trey Rangel took over for Sharmman and only a walk all about the last three innings, in which they hit six.
The stars and stripes added two insurance runs in the first half of the sixth on RBI singles by Grady Emerson and Aiden Ruiz. It was the third RBI for Ruiz, who hit 2-out-4 in the 9-3 victory. Fierlbeck was the only German player who reached the base twice, and he and Niemeyer were the only pair that did not go on strikes.
South Korea – South Africa
The referee crew stopped with two out in the bottom of the third after heaven was opened and a flood fell. The WBSC technical committee decided to suspend the game. According to the WBSC rules, the game will be resumed from the exact suspension point, with South Korea forward on 13-0.
Other games
Australia jumped to an early lead against China and continued to stack, while he kept the Chinese Hitless until the fourth in a 15-3 victory. In a matchup of Onlagen, Japan Cuba defeated 3-0 to go to the top of Pool A, while the last game of the day was an absolute nail biting.
Panamá and Taiwan were still scoreless on the bottom of the fifth, when Taiwan’s lead-off Hitter Tin-Yi Jiang turned into a hit in a run after a handy stem from the second, on the way to third place on a wild pitch and scored on a bouncing ball for the plate. With Shih-Chan Chen who feared on the hill, it seemed that one point could hold, but Panamá assembled a two-out rally when Juan Caballero was double and Luis Rivera followed with a game-typing single to the right. William Cutshall then stood a ball in the middle, but Relie Lan-Hong Su stepped out of the jam. Taiwan then walked away after Yi-an Chang started the bottom of the seventh with a single, moving to second place on a one-out walk and came home on a game-winning base kock from Yu-Hao Chang. The 2-1 victory brought Taiwan to a three-way draw with Australia and Germany in group B
Day 4 schedule
Germany goes for a crucial third victory against Panamá, with a victory that offers hope to qualify for the super round with two more days left. In the meantime, Italy will try to break into the winning column against heavyweight South Korea and South Africa will be charged with stopping Samurai Japan.
Group A classification
Japan: 3-0
Cuba: 2-1
Puerto Rico: 2-1
South Korea: 1-1
South Africa: 0-2
Italy: 0-3
Group B classification
US: 3-0
Australia: 2-1
Germany: 2-1
Taiwan: 2-1
China: 0-3
Panama: 0-3
See our other coverage of the World Cup under 18 baseball:
Sample
https://www.mister-baseball.com/2025-under-18-world-cup-day-3-italy-germany-close-in-losses/.
Day 1 results
https://www.mister-baseball.com/2025-under-18-world-cup-day-3-italy-germany-close-in-losses/.
Day 2 results
https://www.mister-baseball.com/2025-under-18-world-cup-day-3-italy-germany-close-in-losses/.
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