NIIGATA, Japan – USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team’s (0-4) late rally fell short in game four of the 45th USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series on Saturday, July 12, to Japan (4-0) at Hard Off Eco Stadium in Niigata. The stars and stripes managed to cut away at its deficit throughout the contest, making it a one-run game in the ninth inning but the rally fell short, and the U.S. ended up on the losing side of a 6-5 result.
Japan struck early by plating three runs across the first two innings. With the bases loaded thanks to a pair of walks courtesy of Nanato Sakakibara and Taiga Kojima, and a base hit by Koichiro Oda, Shogo Tanihata used timely two-out hitting with a single to left field to bring a pair of runs across in the first inning. In the second, Ayuto Matsushita hit a home run to left field to extend Japan’s lead to 3-0.
The U.S. answered in the bottom half of the inning with two runs, cutting its deficit to one. With runners at the corners after Drew Burress (Georgia Tech) and Zion Rose (Louisville) walked, Ace Reese (Mississippi State) got the team on the board with an RBI single to right field. Then, with the bases loaded after Tyler Bell (Kentucky) was hit by a pitch, Ryder Helfrick (Arkansas) hit a sacrifice fly ball to center field to score Rose from third.
Hirakawa got a run back for Japan in the third when he drew a one-out walk, stole second, and scored on Tanihata’s single to center field. Japan then added two more runs on three hits in the fifth to make it 6-2. Tanihata, Akira Shigenaga, and Ran Maejima strung together back-to-back-to-back base hits to bring the first run across, and then an RBI groundout by Ren Ogata scored the other run of the frame.
The U.S. looked to rally in the eighth when Chris Rembert (Auburn) drove in two with a single to left field with the bases loaded. Rose led off the side with a walk, and then Bell singled and Helfrick walked to allow Rembert to deliver the clutch hit. The stars and stripes managed to load the bases back up when AJ Gracia (Virginia) drew a walk, but a strikeout ended the potential of tying or taking the lead in the game.
Blake Morningstar (Wake Forest) gave his team 2.1 scoreless innings out of the pen across the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, then gave way to Jacob Dudan (NC State), who kept Japan off the board with a scoreless ninth.
The rally continued in the ninth with the U.S. put runners in scoring position on a hit-by-pitch by Rose and a double to right field by Reese, and Bell hit a deep fly ball to center field to score Rose and make it a one-run game at 6-5. With a runner still in scoring position, the comeback fell short as a strikeout ended the game.
Bell, Reese, and Rembert all tallied two hits each in the contest, while Gracia also had a hit to give him a four-game hit streak in the series. Starting pitcher Ethan Kleinschmit, who was saddled with the loss, and Morningstar struck out a team-high three batters each and were two of five different pitchers who made an appearance in the game.
The 45th USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series will wrap up on Sunday, July 13, at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. First pitch is set for 4:00 a.m. ET/5:00 p.m. local, and live stats and streaming can be found on GameChanger.
For the most up-to-date information on the Collegiate National Team, visit USABaseball.com and follow @USABaseballCNT and @USABaseball on Twitter/X, and @USABaseball on Instagram.
