SHELBY, N.C. – Fresh off of winning a national championship at the College World Series, three Vanderbilt players played a critical role in the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team’s 6-2 win over Chinese Taipei on Wednesday.
Bryan Reynolds hit an eighth-inning grand slam, Carson Fulmer struck out three batters in 1.2 innings, including an inning-ending punchout with the tying run on third in the seventh, and Dansby Swanson had a go-ahead RBI double as the U.S. (7-1-1) picked up the win in game two of its series against Chinese Taipei (0-1-1), played in front of a near-capacity crowd of 3,748 at Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C.
“I tell you what, this has already been a really fun series,” Team USA manager Dave Van Horn (Arkansas) said. “Chinese Taipei is a solid club with a lot of experience, a lot of veterans, and team speed. They are tough outs. I’m really proud of our guys tonight.
“That was a tremendous swing Bryan put on that ball. He stayed inside on a fastball that was a bit elevated and out over the plate. He has such a pretty, fluid swing from the left side and that was the hit we have been looking for over the last four or five games.
Zack Collins (Miami) also hit a home run in the contest, blasting a solo shot to straight-away center in the second inning to give the U.S. an early 1-0 lead. He would finish 2-for-3 at the plate on the day. Alex Bregman (LSU) also had a multi-hit effort with a pair of singles and a run scored.
Team USA starting pitcher Kyle Funkhouser (Louisville) turned in a fantastic performance, firing five shutout innings in which he allowed just two hits while striking out eight. He would earn a tough-luck no-decision however as Chinese Taipei scored a run on a bases-loaded wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth to tie it.
“Kyle did a tremendous job,” Van Horn said. “He gave us five strong, quality innings and worked ahead of pretty much every hitter. He had a chance to really work off his fastball and then he had a plus-breaking ball going, he competed hard and we played pretty good defense behind him. We couldn’t have asked for any more out of him.”
Andrew Moore (Oregon State) picked up the win in relief as the U.S. squad answered right back in the top of the seventh when Swanson hustled out an RBI double to right to put his team back in front, 2-1. Just an inning later, his Commodore teammate, Reynolds, launched an opposite-field grand slam to left-center to put the contest out of reach.
Chinese Taipei used a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly to get one run back in the bottom of the eighth but Ryan Burr (Arizona State) closed the door in the ninth to pick up his first save of the summer and seal Team USA’s first win over Chinese Taipei.
The Collegiate National Team continues its series against Chinese Taipei at 7 p.m. tomorrow at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte, N.C. The two squads will then close out the series with a pair of games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C., set for 6:05 p.m. on July 4 and 7:05 p.m. on July 5.
