TAINAN, Taiwan – After finishing unbeaten in Group B, the 12U National Team will begin Super Round play against Mexico on Thursday at Asia-Pacific Main Stadium in Tainan, Taiwan. First pitch is set for 10:30 a.m. local time/10:30 p.m. ET.
The matchup will pin the two number one seeds against each other, as Mexico won Group A and Team USA emerged as the top team from Group B.
Team USA enters the contest with a 4-0 record and is the only undefeated team remaining in the field. The stars and stripes begun their pool play sweep with a 24-0 defeat of the Czech Republic on Friday, then followed with a 21-6 victory over Japan, a 10-0 win against the Dominican Republic, and an 8-5 win over Korea.
The United States have gotten offense up and down the lineup so far throughout the tournament. Colin Anderson has supplied the power for the U.S., hitting three homers – including two grand slams – and driving in 14 runs. Anthony Frausto (.750) and Jonah Saken (.700) have each picked up hits in each game they have played in, with Saken notching three doubles.
On the mound, Team USA has posted a 2.29 staff ERA. Levi Kerr tossed a shutout in the team’s win over the Dominican Republic, and five other U.S. pitchers have clean 0.00 ERA’s in the tournament.
Mexico will bring a 4-1 record to the Super Round matchup. It has picked up wins over Italy, Panama, South Africa, and Venezuela, and dropped a 3-1 decision to Chinese Taipei. Mexico is led offensively by Ezequiel Rivera Velarde, who is batting .636 (7-for-11) with three homers and seven RBIs. The club has posted a 0.89 ERA in 27.0 innings throughout the tournament, striking out 38 batters.
The Super Round battle will be the fourth all-time meeting between the U.S. and Mexico at the U-12 level. Team USA has a 2-1 record in the matchup, with Mexico picking up its win at the 2019 WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup.
The U.S., which owns a world-best three world titles at the U-12 level, won all three of its championships in three consecutive events (2013, 2015, 2017). Team USA went 6-2 in the tournament in 2019 but did not earn a medal for the only time in program history.
The 2022 U.S. roster comprises players who were selected from two USA Baseball identification events. Fourteen players on the roster participated in the 2022 Futures Invitational in June and four athletes played in the 2021 National Team Identification Series (NTIS) Champions Cup last summer. In addition, the roster comprises players from nine different states. California leads all states with six representatives, while Texas follows with five players.
The stars and stripes are led by skipper RJ Farrell in 2022, who returns to the post for the second consecutive season. Farrell led the U.S. to an unbeaten record in a three-game exhibition slate in 2021, outscoring opponents 55-3. The manager has a plethora of experience on 12U National Team coaching staffs, spending three seasons as an assistant coach. In that role, he helped lead Team USA to gold medals at the 2017 WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup and the 2018 COPABE U-12 Pan American Championships.
Farrell is joined on staff by pitching coach Seth Kenny and assistant coaches Troy Gerlach and Tanner Vesely. Kenny will reprise his role as pitching coach in 2022 after making his national team coaching debut a summer ago, when his pitching staff posted a 1.29 ERA and struck out 33 batters in 21 innings pitched. Gerlach assumes the role of assistant coach on the 2022 staff, bringing with him a gold medal from the 2018 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup, where he was an assistant coach. Also serving as an assistant is four-time gold medalist Vesely for the second consecutive year. Vesely, who has been a member of six national team staffs, won the 2015 WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup as manager and has been an assistant on three other gold-medal winning squads.
To follow along with all the action at the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup, be sure to follow @USABaseball12U on Twitter and @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.
