Cuba advances to the Super Round of the I Youth World Cup of Baseball5 with two more victories
- Ray Otero-Alonso
- Oct 11, 2023
- 2 min read
The only undefeated teams in the tournament are Cuba and France
During its two other matches on Wednesday in Group A of the I Baseball5 Youth World Cup, which is held in Yenimahalle in Ankara, Turkey, Cuba found greater rivalry than expected.
But the result was the same, two important victories against their rivals in both best-of-three series, 2-0, that helped them claim first place in Group A, at least 24 hours before it concluded the qualifying stage of the tournament.
Early in the morning, Turkey faced the Cubans, but lost 6-4 - the closest result so far for the Antilleans - and 10-0, losing via the mercy rule in four innings. The victories in the best-of-three series gave the island team a 2-0 lead and the third victory in the tournament standings.
A second match of the day, against Tunisia, the most challenging opponent in the Group, ended in a 2-0 victory for Cuba after 8-0 and 9-6 wins in the first two games.
Trying to remain undefeated, the Cubans will face Malaysia tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. (Cuba and Eastern U.S. time).
As the first team in Group A, Cuba will begin the Super Round on Friday, where they will face the first place team in Group B, France, in an undefeated match that may repeat itself in the final.
France, like Cuba, maintained 4-0 record today, winning 10-4 and 2-0 to defeat Chinese Taipei, the #1 team in the world, by 2-0.A short while later, they beat South Korea, this time 2-1, with successive victories of 5-4 and 6-0 following a 2-4 defeat in the first match.
The Cubans would play another match on Friday against the third place team in Group B.
All of the teams will play their final matches on Saturday, with Cuba facing the second place in Group B in order to determine the final places in the Super Round.
Afterward, the two best places will compete for the gold medal on Sunday at 8:00 am (Cuba time and Eastern time in the United States), while the dispute for third place will take place at 4:00 am.
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