TAINAN, Taiwan – The United States rode a five-run first inning and shutout Japan, 8-0, at Asia Pacific International Baseball Stadium Field 2 Saturday night to advance to the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-12 Baseball World Cup gold medal game.
With the win, Team USA improves to 7-1 overall and sits atop the Super Round standings with a 4-1 record in the second round, per WBSC tournament rules. Meanwhile, tomorrow’s date in the championship is set after Chinese Taipei defeated Korea, as Japan will play with revenge and face the U.S. in back-to-back games for the 2025 WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup title at 10:00 a.m. local/10:00 p.m. ET (August 2).
As is the theme for this team, not one singular facet dominated, as the squad once again executed an all-around team effort to pick up its fourth consecutive win of the tournament. For the first time in nearly a week, Team USA snatched a lead in the first inning and never looked back, taking advantage of a strong pitching effort to hold Japan scoreless throughout the duration of the contest. At the forefront of the charge was the United States’ starting pitcher: Duncan Mount. Feeding off of the offensive onslaught in the top of the first, Mount utilized an 11-pitch effort in the home half to send Team USA’s bats back to work. Mount fired nearly two more complete innings before a torrential downpour halted the game and flooded the already damp infield.
After the nearly two-hour rain delay, Brock Bliss entered in relief and secured the third out of the inning as a base hit from Riku Sahashi nearly plated a run for Japan if it weren’t for Christopher Chikodroff, who delivered a dart to home plate from right field to gun down the advancing runner. Bliss needed only six pitches in the fourth and pitched a clean fifth inning, the latter highlighted by a double play pulled off by shortstop Russell McGee to nullify a leadoff base hit. Mason Bitzenhofer left no doubt in the shutout, as he made his fourth appearance on the mound and induced two groundouts to seal the victory.
Vital to tonight’s win was a dominant first inning showing by Team USA’s bats, as the squad batted around the order and tallied five base knocks. The rally was initiated by an opposite-field, two-run laser off the stick of Kristian Valadez, marking his fourth long ball of the tournament. Quality at-bats ensued and triggered a pitching change from Japan, as their starter could not escape the first. After being silenced in back-to-back innings, the United States' offense got a second wind and pieced together another lethal frame where the red, white, and blue passed the baton and sent seven players to the plate, utilized five base hits, and scored three final runs to hammer the nail in the coffin.
Valadez boosted his batting average after posting a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, including three RBIs and two runs scored. Hatch and Chikodroff each collected two-hit days and scored a run while Jaxon Spray and Radner Roth both went 2-for-2 and drove in a run apiece. Mount racked up four strikeouts over 2.2 frames of one-hit ball, Bliss surrendered only one hit in 2.2 innings en route to earning his third win, and Bitzenhofer needed only eight pitches in his 0.2 inning outing.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Nolan Hatch tallied the first of many hits for Team USA today, as his leadoff bunt-single put a runner on for the lethal bat of Valadez. As he’s been doing all week, Valadez located a 1-0 offering and launched a two-run homer over the opposite field wall as the U.S. struck first.
- Back-to-back base hits by AJ Elliott and Jack Carson followed by a five-pitch walk to Spray loaded the bases and maintained pressure on Japan. The U.S. took advantage, as a muffed grounder succeeded by a sacrifice fly off the bat of McGee made it 4-0.
- Roth capped off the inning and punched the first pitch he saw through the left side, leading to an early 5-0 U.S. advantage.
- After zeros peppered the scoreboard, the scoring resumed in the fifth and kicked off thanks to Roth’s single to shallow right field. Valadez followed up and notched his second hit of the contest while Chikodroff doubled to deep left field in the at-bat immediately after.
- Elliott later produced another run for the away team with an RBI groundout to score Valadez while Spray found a hole in the right side of the infield to plate Chikodroff for Team USA’s eighth run.
NOTABLES
- With the win, the United States is now 5-1 all-time against Japan at the 12-and-under level of competition.
- After the stars and stripes were shut out in the last USA vs. Japan matchup in 2023, Team USA flipped the script and shutout Japan for just the second time since 2015, when the U.S. beat Japan, 8-0.
- The 12U National Team is on the hunt for its third consecutive World Cup title, fifth gold medal in four years, and ninth overall gold medal.
- In addition, Team USA is in an international competition championship game at the 12-and-under level for the tenth time since the team’s inception in 2013.
- Just one year ago, the 2024 Women’s National Team was in an eerily similar position; After beating Japan in the second to last game of the World Cup, the squad faced Japan just a day later in the title game. Japan won gold that year.
- Valadez sits atop the leaderboard among all players in home runs (4) and RBIs (14), while Chikodroff’s .556 batting average and 15 hits are the highest in the field. In addition, Bliss’ three wins are the most among any pitcher in the tournament.
- After tonight, the United States owns the highest batting average (.373), leads all nations in total RBIs (64), while its pitching staff is the lone group to boast an ERA below 2.00, as they own a 1.70 ERA over the past eight contests. The team’s arms held opponents to a .146 batting average and punched out 56 batters.
QUOTABLES
- “The team was ready to go today,” Manager Bryan Madsen said. “They got after it and I can see they’re really starting to become a team.”
- “It felt amazing to go out there tonight especially with a great atmosphere and knowing that if I could get those last outs, we would go to the gold medal game,” said Bitzenhofer. “We played as a team today, our dugout was loud, and we got more momentum as the game went on.”
ON DECK
The United States will compete in its final and most important WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup game on August 3, facing Japan for the second time in as many days, but this time, with a gold medal on the line. First pitch is set to be thrown at 10:00 a.m. local/10:00 p.m. ET (August 2) at Asia Pacific International Baseball Stadium Field 2.
SOCIAL MEDIA
To follow along with all the action with the 12U National Team, be sure to follow @USABaseball12U on X and @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X.
