2007 Baseball World Cup Day 2: 4 teams score lots of runs

Batters overpower pitchers on this the second day of 2007 BWC. Italy, Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Canada easily won by ending early the games against their opponents as their aggressive hitting made it look like batting practice.

South Korea vs Venezuela

With both pitchers shutting down their opponents' batting, it quickly became a pitching duel. Through the 6th inning, a 0-0 double shutout was still holding. But at the top of 7th inning, with Kim Joo Chan's solo HR and Lee Seung Hwa's 2 runs HR to break the tie. With further effective batting, Korea went on to beat Venezuela with a final score of 4-0.

USA vs Panama

Last night, assisted by Mexico's errors and some key hits, USA defeated Mexico with 3-0. Today, the Americans faced Panama, who beat Spain, 5-0, in yesterday's opening match. Starting pitcher, Matt Wright, and relief pitchers, Chris Perez and Jeff Stevens, effectively closed down Panama's offense. USA scored 4 runs in the first two innings and went on to a comfortable victory at 7-0.

Netherlands vs Australia

Australia was defeated in extra innings by Cuba's 2 HRs, yesterday, even though the Aussies had the lead in the 9th. However, the Netherlands should not be overlooked. Evenly matched, it became a pitching game like Korea vs Venezuela did earlier. By the 6th inning, the teams were tied 2-2. The game was decided in the 9th inning. The Netherlands scored first in the top half, but in the bottom of the inning, the Dutch committed fielding errors. Australian player Trent Oeltjen secured the game, 4-3, for the Aussies by driving in the game-winning run.

Other results

Group A

Spain 1-11A Italy

Mexico 3-15A Japan

Chinese Taipei 16A-1 South Africa

Group B

Cuba 7-3 Germany

Canada 18A-0 Thailand

Tomorrow's fixtures

Group A

United States vs Italy

South Africa vs Spain

Mexico vs Panama

Japan vs Chinese Taipei

Group B

Thailand vs South Korea

Venezuela vs Australia

Germany vs Netherlands

Canada vs Cuba