Britain continues to test the top ten in world baseball

Puerto Rico 5, Great Britain 4
Haarlem, Netherlands, September 17

Starting pitcher Alex Smith

Having already forced the best out of Cuba, Japan and South Korea, the Great Britain baseball team pushed another of the countries ranked in the top ten of world baseball all the way this afternoon. A four-run fourth inning saw Britain take a 4-2 lead over Puerto Rico but the Caribbean nation came back with the help of a fielding error and held on for a 5-4 victory as the second round of the Baseball World Cup continued in Holland.

It means that after four games GB is still looking for that elusive win in Group F but is getting ever closer as the team develops. This is the first time Great Britain’s baseball team has competed in a major competition on the world stage since the first Baseball World Cup in 1938. Today will rate as one of the team’s best performances so far in this year’s event as pitching, defense and hitting all came together to give the Puerto Ricans a run for their money.

Not only did Britain briefly take the lead but it did so by battling back from 2-0 down. Given the run of defeats in the second round it would have been easy for the players’ heads to drop when they conceded those two runs in the second inning. However, Britain was led by a strong performance on the mound from Alex Smith. The statuesque starting pitcher shook off memories of the early-inning nightmare against Nicaragua on Sept 11 – when he gave up three home runs in the first inning – to pitch the whole game, striking out three batters and limiting the opposition to five runs.

Another big inning

After being stifled by Nicaraguan starter Diego Garcia the previous evening, GB’s batters got swinging today to rack up ten hits against pitchers Jose Santiago and Angel Garcia. Clean-up hitter Sam Wiley went 3-for-4 with an RBI and catcher Chris Berset and designated hitter Evan Romanchuk each went 2-for-4.

One of the trends of GB’s tournament so far has been that, while there have been long periods where the offense has had trouble getting going, it can also suddenly break out in an inning. One four- or five-run inning against both Japan and South Korea brought GB back into those games and it was the same case here.

In the fourth inning the top of Britain’s lineup proved effective as Berset – promoted from the middle of the lineup to second for this game – and Brant Ust both singled to get on base and then Wiley and Aeden McQueary drove in runners to put Britain 3-2 in the lead and signal the end of Santiago’s start. GB’s next hitters kept the pressure on, loading the bases for reliever Garcia to walk in another run.

Puerto Rico makes the most of defensive gift

Unfortunately, Britain’s defense was guilty of a momentary, but costly, lapse which allowed Puerto Rico straight back into the game in the bottom of the inning. Smith threw the ball away for what should have been an easy out at first base but which allowed batter Alex Cintron to reach second. Two fly-outs later and the inning should have been over but instead Cintron came around to score on Irving Falu’s single. Falu was then batted in by Miguel Abreu to tie the scoreline 4-4. In the fifth Luis Matos managed to hustle out an infield hit to third baseman Tim Collins and subsequently scored the go-ahead run on a Cintron single.

Having fortuitously regained the lead, Puerto Rico made sure it did not throw it away. The introduction of relief pitcher Orlando Roman once Puerto Rico went ahead proved a good move. He allowed only one more hit and struck out five over the last four innings.

As Nicaragua displayed the previous evening, superior athletic defending has been one of the differences between Great Britain and the Latin American sides in this competition. While Britain’s infield allowed a few more infield hits than it really should, Puerto Rican rightfielder Falu and second baseman Ruben Gotay stretched themselves to make outs that they really shouldn’t, prematurely ending GB’s attempts to regain the lead in the latter innings.

Making a progression

Britain’s players may be disappointed in the manner of the loss – but for a couple of tighter defensive plays in the fourth and fifth innings they could have held the lead deeper into the game. Yet there were again a lot of positives to take away and it feels like the players are working more cohesively as a team with every game that comes, both on the field and with the bats.

Great Britain now returns to Rotterdam to face two European sides – host nation the Netherlands on Friday (19:00 CET, 18:00 BST) and Spain on Saturday (13:00 CET, 12:00 BST). On paper these represent Britain’s best opportunity to record a win or two before the second round is out. However, Head Coach Stephan Rapaglia knows there are no easy games at this stage. The Netherlands has won all its games so far in the second round and will be backed by a boisterous home crowd decked out in the traditional orange. While GB’s victory over Spain was the catalyst for its run to the European silver medal in 2007, the Spanish will still be buzzing from an impressive 8-1 defeat of Venezuela on Monday.

Box score and play-by-play

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