14:00 SB001 United States v. Dominican Republic (11am on the West Coast)
16:30 SB001 Argentina v. Venezuela (1:30pm on the West Coast)
19:00 SB001 Canada v. Mexico (4:00pm on the West Coast)
USA v. Dominican Republic
Click here for preview of the USA vs Dominican Republic game.
Venezuela versus Argentina
Game 2 today will feature a battle of South American powerhouse teams which met in the Pan Am qualifier in Parana Argentina back in November 2014, with Venezuela coming away the winner.
Venezuela won the bronze medal at the 2015 WBSC in Saskatoon in June, behind the strength of our throwing right-hander Ramon Jones. On the second to the last day of the tournament, Jones through a pair of shutouts against Japan and Australia. Jones has been clocked in the mid to upper 80 mile-per-hour range, making him if not the hardest throwers in the world certainly among them. Argentina has one of the deepest pitching staffs, with a pair of veterans, Juan Potoliccio and Sebastian Gervasutti, and a pair of youngsters fresh up from the WBSC (ISF) junior men’s division, Roman Godoy and Huemel Mata. The two youngsters pitched Argentina’s Junior men’s team to the gold-medal last summer in Whitehorse Yukon. Potoliccio is the ace of the staff and is likely to start today’s contest.
After a strong start in the WBSC World Championship, including an opening day 3-2 win over eventual silver medalist New Zealand, Argentina faltered, dropping a round-robin contest to the Czech Republic, and another to eventual gold medal winning Canada, barely making the playoff round as the # 4 seed, and having to face Venezuela in their first playoff game.
Venezuela came away the winner in the playoff game, 5-1, with both teams using two pitchers, Erick Urbaneja and Ramon Jones for Venezuela, and Juan Potoliccio and youngster Roman Godoy for Argentina.
Argentina had several players suspended by the WBSC, as the result of an incident occurring in their final round robin game against Great Britain. One Argentine player was banned from the rest of the tournament, another picked up a two game suspension and a third a one-game suspension. Because of their early playoff round exit none of the suspended players played again during the tournament.
Click here for the box score from their playoff round contest
Editor’s pick:Venezuela over Argentina, in a battle of showstoppers, Ramon Jones over Juan Potoliccio. Venezuela has won their last two matchups, last fall in the gold-medal game of the Pan Am qualifier and in the playoff round at Saskatoon. Venezuela’s defense is solid, and their offense just potent enough to get past the Argentines. With Potoliccio, the Argentines are capable of beating anyone but the incident at Saskatoon resulting in the suspension of three other players for that tournament may prove unsettling. Argentine veteran Bruno Madron had an outstanding WBSC at the plate, but will have to get some help from others to generate runs against Ramon Jones (or Erick Urbaneja). Urbaneja struggled during the WBSC, but with the devastating changeup, is expected to rebound.
Canada v. Mexico
Canada was of course the gold medal winning team in the 2015 WBSC World Championships Winning Two Games on the Final Day of the Tournament, 10-0 over Venezuela and 10-5 over the 2013 gold-medal champs, the New Zealand Black Sox. Team Canada rallied against New Zealand in the championship game after trailing 5-0 in the early going. Canada was dominant throughout the round Robin, earning a double life in the playoffs. Their only loss in the terminal was to New Zealand, 9-5, though they rallied back to win gold. Sean Cleary is the ace of the pitching staff. Brad Ezekiel had an outstanding tournament hitting several key homeruns, and of course the world is still buzzing from the three home run/7 RBI performance by Canada’s Steve Mullaley in the championship game. Canada outhit and out slugged all other teams in the WBSC World Championship.
Mexico did not face Canada at the WBSC World Championship, finishing in 10th place, falling to the USA in the consolation final, 4-3. The squad is led by pitchers, 27-year-old Samuel Villalvazo, and 30-year-old Eduardo Escobedo, along with 19-year-old Juadiel Olaez, just up from the Jr. Men’s division.
Mexico won two games in the consolation bracket, including a 7-5 win over a solid Great Britain squad. Vilalvazo tossed five scoreless innings in that contest to pick up the wind in relief. The squad for Mexico has a large contingent of players from the Tijuana/Mexicali area, whom have competed in California classic tournaments played in San Diego California.
Erick Ochoa 2B and Edgar Lopez from Mexicali, Baja California; Tony Gonzalez, Cesar Rodrigue, Juan Villalvazo, Ismael Pena, and Samuel Villalvazo from Tijuana. Gustavo Prishker 3B from Reynosa, Tamaulipas is among the teams top power hitters.
Editors pick: WBSC gold medal winning Canada with an easy win. Canada’s pitching has been strong and their offense stronger still. A let down after winning the gold medal in Saskatoon? Not a chance. Canada is a professional, tight knit group of veterans, and the favorites to follow their gold medal at Saskatoon with another in Toronto.
The Canadians dominated most teams at Saskatoon, and will continue their winning ways in front of a hometown crowd in Toronto. Lots of power hitting lefties (7) for Canada against an all right-handed Mexico pitching staff. Mexico will need to play their best defense to try to stay in this game. Mexico played Great Britain and the USA straight up at Saskatoon, but Team Canada is playing at a whole other level.
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