DURHAM, N.C. – Seth Beer and Braden Shewmake each recorded two RBIs, while Grant Koch and Steele Walker both tallied two hits and a RBI as the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team defeated Chinese Taipei, 8-6, in the series finale of the 17th USA vs. Chinese Taipei Friendship Series from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The U.S. won the best-of-five series, 4-0, after game four was canceled due to rain, and are 13-0-4 all-time during the series against Chinese Taipei.
Walker was named the series MVP after hitting .400 with a .733 slugging percentage. Steven Gingery was selected as the Pitcher of the Series as he did not allow a run or a hit during the four-game series. Travis Swaggerty earned Batting Champion after leading all players with a .417 batting average with a .500 on-base percentage. Chinese Taipei’s Chung Ting Chen was the recipient of the Spirit Award.
The United States jumped out to an early lead with a five-run first inning. Nick Madrigal led off the frame with a base hit and scored on a Walker RBI-triple down the first-base line. After a Koch double to right field plated Walker, Shewmake drove in a pair of runs with a triple to right field and then crossed home on a Tyler Frank sacrifice fly.
Team USA pushed its lead to 7-0 in the bottom of the second inning when Beer singled to right field to bring home Jake McCarthy and Cadyn Grenier.
Chinese Taipei cut the lead to 7-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, highlighted by a solo home run off the bat of Chen Chung Yu in the top of the third, but the U.S. responded with a run off a sacrifice fly to left field by Jeremy Eierman to score Grenier and make the score 8-3.
Chinese Taipei would score three unearned runs in the top of the 7th inning to make the score 8-6, but Dallas Woolfolk would pick up his second save of the series and third of the summer with a scoreless ninth inning.
The U.S. team ended the game with eight runs on nine hits with two errors, while Chinese Taipei finished with six runs on eight hits and no errors.
The United States returns to the field on Sunday to begin the sixth USA vs. Cuba International Friendship Series with first pitch set for 6 p.m. from Bill Coleman Field at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
The series is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.
Photo courtesy of USA Baseball
