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USA Collegiate National Team Coach George Horton (Photo By David Cohen, BHEphotos)
NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan – Chinese Taipei rallied from a four-run eighth-inning deficit to hand the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team (4-1-1) its first loss of the summer on Tuesday at Xinzhuong Stadium as the two squads played the opening contest of a five-game friendship series.
With Team USA leading 6-2 going into the home half of the eighth inning, Chinese Taipei took advantage of a very opportune 15-second call on U.S. pitcher Kyle Wright to draw a leadoff walk. The next batter, Tai Chun Yang, then drove a pitch into the left-field seats to make it a 6-4 ball game. A pair of singles, a wild pitch and a run-scoring groundout later, the home squad suddenly found itself within a run.
The U.S. was able to scratch across an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Brendan McKay (Louisville) scampered home on a high chopper to first by Evan Skoug (TCU) but it wouldn’t be enough. Back-to-back walks to open the bottom of the ninth came back to haunt the U.S. as a sacrifice bunt and singles by three of the next four batters ended it, capped off by a walk-off base hit to left by Tsung Hsien Lee.
Prior to the Chinese Taipei comeback, Jeren Kendall (Vanderbilt) and Taylor Walls (Florida State) played key roles in putting Team USA in the driver’s seat. Kendall finished 2-for-3 with five RBIs in the contest, including a three-run home run down the right-field line that sparked a four-run seventh-inning.
From the ninth spot in the batting order, Walls proved to be a sparkplug as well, reaching in all four of his plate appearances with a pair of singles, two walks and two runs scored. In fact, the bottom third of the lineup did yeoman’s work all game, combining to reach base seven times.
On the mound, Tanner Houck (Missouri) started and gave the Collegiate National Team four strong innings, yielding only a first-inning run on two hits while striking out two. After a slow start, he settled down to face just one over the minimum in his final three innings of work. Glenn Otto (Rice) suffered the loss after allowing three runs on a hit and two walks in one inning out of the bullpen.
Team USA will look to rebound on Wednesday when it returns to Xinzhuong Stadium for the second game of the series at 6:30 p.m. local time/6:30 a.m. ET. University of Florida right-hander Alex Faedo will get the start on the hill. (Note: Batting practice will begin at approximately 3 p.m. local).
Tentatively scheduled to follow Faedo in the pitching rotation are Brendan McKay (game 3 – 6:30 p.m.), Alex Lange (LSU, game 4 – 6:30 p.m.) and Cole Sands (Florida State, game 5 – 2 p.m.).
QUOTES
USA Baseball field manager George Horton
(On his thoughts on the game)
“I think we did a lot of things well, especially offensively and at times we played good defense. But from the mound we didn’t do a very good job. We didn’t do what we usually do. From the very first guys, (Tanner) Houck and (Kyle) Wright, we had six walks and three hit batters, that’s nine free bases. We didn’t throw strikes early in the count like we typically do. On the other side though, I would like to give Chinese Taipei a lot of credit for doing a good job of hitting and making us pay for those free bases. What a great comeback by them.”
