Great Britain leaves re-match with Nicaragua with pride intact

Nicaragua 4, Great Britain 1
Rotterdam, Netherlands, September 16

Having been battered for six home runs and a 10-0 reverse in its previous meeting with Nicaragua in the first round, the Great Britain baseball team gave a much improved defensive performance in tonight’s re-match in Rotterdam in the second round of the Baseball World Cup. Brian Essery pitched seven strong innings and was backed by sharp fielding to limit the Latin Americans to four runs (three earned). However, for the second time, the British hitters couldn’t crack Nicaraguan starter Diego Sandino Garcia who threw a complete game to lead Nicaragua to a 4-1 victory.

As has repeatedly been the case in Great Britain’s journey through the World Cup, it was a very creditable performance and result, this time against a team with plenty of World Cup experience which this week held the highly-rated Cubans and Venezuelans to close games before eventually succumbing to defeat. Tonight’s game was also a marked defensive improvement to Monday’s run-filled event versus South Korea which was a 15-5 loss strewn with defensive errors from both sides.

GB Head Coach Stephan Rapaglia made a number of changes to his starting lineup, returning Evan Romanchuk to the designated hitter spot and bringing in Tim Collins and Brad Marcelino at third base and centrefield respectively. To make way for these three, Jason Holowaty, Tom Stack-Babich and Alex Malihoudis began on the bench.

In the first meeting between these two sides, Nicaragua had stunned GB early on with three solo home runs in the first inning. Tonight, Essery and his defense avoided that ignominy but Sandor Guido and Mario Holman drove in runs in the second inning to give Nicaragua a 3-0 lead. However, Britain replied quickly in the bottom of the inning. Chris Berset laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Sam Wiley from first base who was then batted around by Romanchuk’s first hit of the tournament and brought home by Chris Falls to make the score 3-1.

Great pitching and defense keeps GB in the game

GB’s offensive effort was backed up by some great defense in the top of the third to get itself out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs. Essery reached back to strike out Danilo Sotelo and then a neat link-up between first baseman McQueary and catcher Berset executed a double play to get the batter-runner out at first and tag the runner from third base to end the inning.

Having survived that opportunity for Nicaragua to break open the game, Britain kept the opposition within reach as the Latin American hitters went three-up, three-down in each of the following three innings. Unfortunately, GB’s batters were similarly stifled by Garcia and some top defending behind him. Centrefielder Douglas Morales and shortstop Edgar Lopez both made outstanding diving catches in the game to rob GB of hits. In the top of the seventh Adolfo Matamoros added an insurance run with an RBI-double.

Positives from the game

The loss – Britain’s third in a row in the second round – means that GB is now propping up Group F and would need an amazing second half in order to reach one of the top four positions and qualify for the latter stages. However, despite continuing frustration with the bats, there were a number of positives for Great Britain’s squad to take away from tonight’s game.

Relief pitcher Tom Boleska added two solid innings of work to Essery’s start to prevent Nicaragua extending its lead, giving up only two hits and striking out three. Jimmy Morales Gonzales, one of the Central Americans’ ace hitters with five home runs prior to this game, was limited to just one hit. Meanwhile, DH Evan Romanchuk got his first hits of the tournament in a 2-for-3 outing which matched lead-off hitter Matt McGraw’s day.

Box score and play-by-play

GB’s next game is versus Puerto Rico at 13:00 CET (12:00 BST) on Thursday (Sept 17) in Haarlem. The game will again be televised by Eurosport 2.

Follow GB

As well as reports on this site you can follow the Great Britain baseball team in these ways:

• Results, standings, television listings and general news from the official Baseball World Cup site
• Television coverage on Eurosport 2 (satellite and cable) and Eurosport Player (online streaming)
• In-game updates (where possible) via BaseballSoftballUK’s Twitter feed
• Facebook fan page – look for the ‘Great Britain National Teams’ page
• Coverage on the BaseballGB blog site

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