AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico - Team USA blasted six home runs, with three hit in the first inning and two by Christian Hamilton (Lauderhill, Fla.), to help defeat Venezuela 15-4 in their opening Super Round game of the 2018 COPABE U-12 Pan American Championships at Guel Jimenez Baseball Park.
Before the U.S. could get to the bottom of the first, to swing the bats, they had to withstand a quick jab thrown by Venezuela in the top half of the inning. USA, entering the game with five hits allowed in five tournament games combined, surrendered two hits on the opening two pitches of the game. Starting pitcher Ross Felder (Springdale, Ark.) settled down and retired the next three batters in order, including a strikeout with two runners in scoring position to keep Valenzuela off the scoreboard.
Kameron Davis (Albany, Ga.), who hit a home run on the first pitch he saw to lead off the bottom of the first inning Wednesday (against Brazil), did the same thing Thursday with a line drive home run over the right field fence for his third home run of the tournament. Hamilton followed Davis with a homer to complete back-to-back solo shots for a 2-0 U.S. lead. The first five U.S. batters reached base on hits and it led to a seven-run inning capped by a two-run home run from Brock Thompson (Bakersfield, Calif.) for his third home run in the tournament.
Venezuela cut into the USA lead and ended their streak of 16 consecutive shutout innings in the second inning with a two-out three-run home run hit by David Guzman to cut the USA lead to 7-3. The U.S. matched the three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Hamilton started a three-run second inning with another solo home run for his second homer of the game and third of the tournament.
The 10-3 U.S. lead was cut into in the fourth inning with a solo home run by Venezuela's Kevin Ereu. They followed with a pair of hits, which led to Talin Gardini (San Diego, Calif.) relieving Felder. Gardini was able prevent any further damage and was able to record the third out with the bases loaded, which was the first bases loaded at-bit by a U.S. opponent in the tourney.
USA used their offense to finish off the game in the sixth inning. Before an out could be recorded, Masato Chilcutt (San Antonio, Texas) drove in Hamilton and Dean Moss (Hillsborough, Calif.), the fourth batter of the inning, hit a three-run home run to end the game due to a 10-run lead after five innings.
Hamilton completed the game 4-for-4 with two home runs and two runs-batted-in. He was one of six U.S. players with a multi-hit game and he is the second U.S. member this tournament to have a four-hit performance. Chilcutt finished with three hits (3-for-4) and Moss' walk-off provided him with a team-high three runs-batted-in.
Felder was credited with the win (2-0), as he went 3.1 innings and allowed four runs off seven hits. Gardini went 2.2 shutout innings in relief, allowing two hits and striking out three batters.
Venezuela, who fell to 4-2 in the tournament, used three pitchers in the first inning (starter Jose Nava, who did not record an out, was tacked with the loss), and settled with Jenderson Suarez for 4.1 innings of work. Suarez allowed six runs off eight hits. Guzman led them at the plate, going 2-for-4 with three RBI.
USA moved their all-time mark to 4-1 all-time against Venezuela, with a 3-0 mark in games played in COPABE competition. The U.S. is now 6-0 overall in this season's tournament and 1-0 in Super Round play . They continue the three-game Super Round series in Aguascalientes Friday facing host Mexico (6-0) with a 12 p.m. (CT) first pitch at CECADI Stadium. The game will pit the two tournament heavyweights, as each team won their group and each are 6-0 in the tournament.
Inside the Numbers
91-5 - The U.S. has outscored their opponents 91-5 and they have outhit them 89-14. USA's pitching staff has pitched two no-hitters and two one-hitters in the tournament.
17.3 - USA has produced at least 10 hits in all six games of the tournament and is averaging 17.3 hits over their last three games.
29 - The U.S. has hit 29 home runs in the tournament through six games. The single-tournament high for the U.S. is 37 from the 2016 tournament. The 37 home runs in 2016 was at a pace of 4.8 per game (averaging 4.6 per game this tournament).
21 - In 25 innings of at-bats, USA has scored at least 1 run in 21 of the innings.
12 - Twelve different USA players have hit a home run in this season's tournament. Kailand Halstead and Masato Chilcutt co-lead the team with five each.
.589 - USA is batting .589 in the tournament. Hamilton leads the team hitting .833 (10-for-12).
.615 - The U.S. is hitting .615 (48/78) with runners on base. They held their opponents to 0-for-22 in the same category through the first five games of the tournament. USA is 37-for-57, .649 with runners in scoring position after going 7-for-8 in the category against Venezuela.
