USA Baseball splits Doubleheader against Chinese Taipei

NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan – The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team split a doubleheader against Chinese Taipei at Xinzhuang Stadium on Thursday, dropping the opening game in walk-off fashion before bouncing back to even the series with a win in the nightcap. Both games were 3-2 contests.

The first game was a pitching duel for the first six innings with both teams throwing zeroes up in each frame. Team USA finally cracked the scoreboard first in the top of the seventh.

Three walks loaded the bases with two outs before Evan Skoug (TCU), who had the team’s only two hits in the contest, hit a high chopper towards first. Hustling out of the box he was able to barely beat the fielder to the bag for an infield single and Brendan McKay (Louisville) crossed the plate on the play.

It appeared that would be all the U.S. would need to claim the game, which was designated as a seven-inning affair, but an unfortunate mishap kept Chinese Taipei alive for extra innings.

With a runner on third and two outs, southpaw Ricky Tyler Thomas (Fresno State) was able to strike out pinch-hitter Tai Chun Yang swinging on a pitch in the dirt but it bounced away from the plate, allowing him to reach first and the runner on third to scamper home and tie the game at 1-1.

Playing by international tiebreaker rules (runners placed on first and second with nobody out) in the eighth inning, Team USA was able to scratch across one run on a sacrifice fly by McKay but Chinese Taipei answered with a pair of run-scoring singles in its half of the frame, including a walk-off base hit to left by Yu Ning Tsao, to win the contest, 3-2.

JB Bukauskas (North Carolina) gave the U.S. a stellar start in the opener, striking out seven and allowing just two hits while walking none in four innings of work. Thomas fanned five in his 3.1 frames of action.

The second game of the day was just as good as the first with good pitching and timely hitting continuing to set the tone. Hitting from the leadoff spot, Taylor Walls (Florida State) got things rolling for the U.S. when he lifted a two-out RBI double to the gap in right-center to plate the game’s first run in the third.

Chinese Taipei responded two-fold in the following half inning to take a 2-1 lead but the United States got an RBI double from Seth Beer (Clemson) in the home half of the fourth to tie the game and Walls knocked in the eventual game-winner with his second double of the day in the fifth.

This time the U.S. bullpen was able to lock the game down as Cole Sands (Florida State) and Zach Warren (Tennessee) each threw 1.2 innings of scoreless relief before Darren McCaughan (Long Beach State) earned the save by retiring the final batter.

With Typhoon Nepartak set to make landfall early Friday morning, Team USA will remain safely sheltered at its hotel in Taoyuan. After the storm passes the island and team officials are able to further assess the situation, a decision will then be made about potentially finishing the five-game series on Saturday.

“I thought it was a grind. We didn’t get it done in the first game, another heartbreaking loss, but I was proud of the guy s for coming back in the second game. It’s not ice skating, it wasn’t pretty, but we were able to hold on and find a way to get the win. That is what tough teams do. I was proud of the way they played for the United States of America. We do need to get some guys on track. The pitching continues to be very impressive. Each guy we roll out there gives us a chance to win. We have to start getting the offense going now.”

“I didn’t know what to expect from Chinese Taipei before we came over here. We played them at Honkbal Week in the Netherlands when I was an assistant coach on this team in 2012, but they were not nearly as complete a ball club as they are now. I kind of apologized to the team after the game today because we came in with the mindset that we were using this series as preparation for the Japan and Cuba series and I think that was a big mistake. It was unintentional to overlook them but they play the game a lot better than maybe we gave them credit for. Hopefully we can find a way to take the series on Saturday.”

“I’m glad we selected him. He came to the trials not guaranteed a spot and he just kept impressing us. Every day that you are around him you see that he is an energized kid. He is out there getting better and he is going 100 miles an hour. He’s a guy that looks like he is in character in the box and wants to be the guy up in big situations. I’m going to steal him and take him back to Oregon. I love the kid, I love his makeup and his toughness and his attitude is contagious.”