THUNDER BAY, Canada - On a rainy evening quite similar to the gold-medal contest two years ago between the same two teams, the USA Baseball 18U National Team emerged victorious against Japan, outlasting a pair of 90-minute rain delays to claim a 4-0 victory at the 2017 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup on Saturday at Port Arthur Stadium.
Following the second rain delay of the afternoon - the start of the contest was also delayed for an hour-and-a-half - Ryan Weathers (Loretto, Tenn.) toed the rubber to begin the second inning and provided an incredible effort out of the bullpen.
The 6-1 southpaw fired seven stellar innings of one-hit ball, striking out eight batters and walking only one. He allowed just one runner to reach scoring position en route to earning the victory.
Just prior to the lengthy delay, Triston Casas (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) struck the game's biggest offensive blow when he took an 0-2 offering and crushed it the other way for a two-run home run. Just seconds later the skies opened up, forcing the team's back to their respective locker rooms.
The three-time defending World Cup champions, Team USA was undeterred after the break, however, and used some heads-up baserunning from Mike Siani (Glenside, Pa.) to manufacture another run in the fifth.
Siani struck out swinging to open the frame but hustled safely down to first when the pitch scooted away from the catcher before Carter Young (Selah, Wash.) promptly sacrificed him up to second. Siani's baseball IQ was on full display a few pitches later when a passed ball on another swinging strike three sent the ball to the backstop. Never stopping, he raced around third and scored standing up as Japan left the plate uncovered on the passed ball.
It was Siani once again in the sixth when he punched a two-out RBI single into left to plate Brice Turang (Corona, Calif.) for what would be the game's final run.
JT Ginn (Brandon, Miss.) would come out of the bullpen firing bullets in the ninth, striking out two to seal the victory. Landon Marceaux (Destrehan, la.) started the contest with a scoreless first but was forced to exit the game after the rain delay.
Team USA is the three-time defending World Cup champion and is looking to become the second country to win four-straight gold medals in the tournament. The U.S. will take on Mexico at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday at Baseball Central.
Continue to follow @USABaseball18U on Twitter and visit USABaseball.com for the most up-to-date news about the 18U National Team.
QUOTES
USA Baseball 18U National Team Manager Andy Stankiewicz
(On Ryan Weathers)
"Coming in we knew that Ryan (Weathers) could be a starter or equally as effective out of the bullpen. Once we got to that rain delay and we were getting close to an hour in, we knew it was time to put that versatility to use. Talk about stepping up, wow. He was enormous. I don't have the words to describe the job he did. He was a bulldog and just attacked hitters. It was fun to watch."
(On the team's offensive effort)
"The home run by (Triston) Casas was huge just to give us a little margin to work with. That was all Ryan needed. It wasn't pretty from an offensive standpoint, but Mike Siani came up big with the two-out knock and then the hustle-and-score from second on the strikeout. Anytime you can add one against a team like Japan is huge."
(On Japan)
"Japan is good. Their starting pitcher, talk about a competitor. You have to tip your hat, he was good. He was pounding the zone, getting his fastball over early, and then throwing a nice little breaking ball that tied our guys up. Hopefully our team can learn from this and if we face them again, which we think we probably will, we'll have to be ready to commit to putting the ball in play."
Relief Pitcher Ryan Weathers
(On his effort out of the bullpen)
"I knew going into the game that if something like that happened with the rain delay I had a chance of going in. I knew when they pulled the tarp off that I had 30 minutes so I just went through my normal routine like I would if I was starting. That helped me out a lot."
(On having a 2-0 lead when he entered the game)
"It definitely gave me a little room for comfort. It would have been different going into a game 0-0 because you don't have any room for error. You still don't want to give up any runs even though you are up two, but it helped me mentally to be prepared to go out there and do work."
First Baseman Triston Casas
(On what he saw out of Japan)
"I was expecting exactly what we got. They have a lot of good pitching and kept getting off balance all game. On the defensive side for us, they put a lot of balls in play and made us play defense."
(On his home run)
"That kid on the mound was great. He had me on the ropes all night. He just made a mistake on 0-2 and I was able to put a good swing on it. I was just trying to get a job done with a guy on third and less than two outs and just trying to get a ball airborne. I got a ball airborne and it just happened to go over the fence. I just choked up a little, widened out my stance, and put a good swing on the ball. I can't speak highly enough of the Japanese pitching and I was just lucky to put a good swing on it, to be honest."
(On the rain delay)
"I was pretty relaxed. We were all hungry because we hadn't really eaten since about 11:30 or noon. We ate some apples and some oranges, and we got some hot dogs from the concession stand. We were just relaxing and chatting it up a little bit. I don't think it was as disruptive as people might think. I don't think the weather delay bothered us at all."