Team USA Tops No. 1 Seed Japan After Weather Delay In Game 2

 

THUNDER BAY, Ontario, Canada—Battling the elements as well as facing the No. 1 seed in the U18 World Baseball Softball Confederation World Cup, Team USA took on both in a grueling day of baseball and came out the other side with a 4-0 win after two delays against Japan at Port Arthur Stadium on Saturday night.

After facing a game-time change because of a storm early in the day, Team USA arrived at the field before noon to prepare for its afternoon contest, only to be disrupted again by the rain during batting practice and eliminating any chance of starting the game on time.

One-and-a-half innings into the matchup, just moments after first baseman Triston Casas launched his first home run of the tournament to the opposite field in left give Team USA a 2-0 lead over Japan, the sky opened once more and took both teams off the field for another hour-and-a-half.

As it turned out, the delay might have been just what they were looking for, allowing the Americans to eat for the first time in seven hours—scarfing down apples, oranges and hot dogs from the concession stand—and forcing Team USA into its bullpen. The Americans went to aptly-named southpaw Ryan Weathers, who dominated the Japanese lineup for seven innings, allowing one hit, one walk, and using his low-90s fastball and sharp slider to strike out eight.

“That was just a superb performance, and that’s an understatement,” USA manager Andy Stankiewicz said. “I’m excited about the job he did for us. That was big, to be in pool play and to get to 2-0 is a big deal. That’s a very good team over there, so to get one against them in pool play is a huge step forward. Ryan Weathers, he stepped up big time.”

Understanding his role was to potentially start, or possibly be used as an option out of the bullpen, the 6-foot-1, 226-pound Vanderbilt commit knew the weather could bring him in against Japan. He entered in relief of Landon Marceaux, and the delay allowed him to prepare like he would for a start on any other day.

“I knew going into the game that if something like that were to happen, a rain delay or anything, that I had a chance of going in,” Weathers said. “Going in, I knew that when they got the tarp off I had 30 minutes, so I could get my normal routine in as if I was starting. So it helped me out a lot . . . (And being) up two (runs), it helped me mentally be prepared to go out there and do work.”

Righty J.T. Ginn added two more strikeouts to Team USA’s total and three hurlers combined to strike out 10 batters. Japan starter Kento Kawabata struck out 15 in 5.2 innings, but allowed six hits, six walks, four runs (three earned). Kawabata used an 86-90 mph fastball with a solid curveball and effective slider but needed 127 pitches. Japanese pitching struck out 23 as Fumimaru Taura fanned five in 2.1 innings and Shumpei Isomura struck out the side in his inning.

“It was interesting,” Stankiewicz said. “(Kawabata) was good. That starter’s got courage, and he wasn’t backing own. He was making big pitches, and we just took advantage of some key hits to score some runs . . . When we get something that we like, we’ve got to take a shot at it. We can’t wait around to get that two-strike count and then battle off a good slider and a good curveball that guy had today. We’re putting ourselves in a tough spot.”

The early home run that would eventually become the game-winner was one hit that did come out of a two-strike count for Team USA, as Casas choked up and widened his stance with two strikes in order to do some damage with a runner in scoring position.