Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Korea finish U-23 Baseball World Cup Placement Round with wins

There were no surprises on the third and final day at the U-23 Baseball World Cup Placement Round. Nicaragua had already clinched seventh place overall. Korea finished eighth, and the Dominican Republic placed ninth.

Korea-Czech Republic 6-4

Korea fended off a late charge from the Czech Republic to win 6-4 on Friday morning in Ciudad Obregon.  The win was the third straight for a Korea team that finishes the tournament in eighth place.

Korea scored two in the second, three in the third and added another in fourth, led by Ko Myeongjun (2-for-3, 2 runs) and Yun Junho who finished the game with 2 RBI.

Vojtech Mensik hit his first home run of the tournament, a three-run blast to left, in the bottom of the fifth inning for the Czech Republic.  Marek Chlup finished the game 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Chlup finishes the tournament with a .333 batting average, 8 RBI and a 1.243 OPS.

Dominican Republic-Netherlands 2-1

The Dominican Republic, behind an outstanding start from Jeremy Ovalle,  beat the Netherlands 2-1 on Friday afternoon at Estadio Yaquis.

Ovalle struck out seven over five shutout innings, giving up just one hit - a bunt single - on the very first pitch he threw.  He finishes the tournament 2-0 having allowed just two hits over 10 shutout innings.  Both Dominican runs came courtesy of Andretty Cordero sacrifice flys.

Junior Martina drove in the lone run for the Netherlands, but it wasn’t enough to back up starter Koen Postelmans who gave up just one earned run on two hits over 5.2 innings of work.

Nicaragua-Germany 3-1

Nicaragua finished a perfect run through the Placement Round with a 3-1 victory over Germany on Friday night in Ciudad Obregon.

Mejia Dilmer struck out 10 over 6.1 innings, and Wilfredo Miranda got the last two outs to preserve the victory for Nicaragua.  Leadoff man Wandley Ocon was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI to lead the way offensively.

David Dinski drove in Germany’s lone run in the top of the seventh.  The left fielder went 1-for-3, having reached base safely in all eight games of the tournament.

U-23 Baseball World Cup Placement Round-the standings

Nicaragua (5-0); Korea (4-1); Dominican Republic (3-2); Netherlands (2-3) Germany, (1-4); Czech Republic (0-5)