- Team EBSM
Britain 2-0 at WBC
Despite Mother Nature’s delays, over 2,200 fans were on-hand Saturday night to watch the German national team take on Great Britain in their first game of the World Baseball Classic qualifier.
Neither club wasted their first inning plate appearances. 3B Justin Wylie hit a 3-RBI homer for the Brits, who had first ups, after Brian Flynn gave the bags away with back-to-back HBPs off a breaking ball which was clearly not working for him.
Taking advantage of Britain’s cold arm Germany’s LF Daniel Aldrich drove in Aaron Altherr who, along with William Germaine reached as a reward for showing patience at the plate.
That left the score 3-1 in favor of Great Britain. Over the next four innings both pens posted goose eggs. Following an hour-long rain delay in the top of the 5th, both sides switched arms.
Great Britain added some insurance to start the 6th. Jaden Rudd and Kent Blackstone singled to reach before being driven in by a hard hit, well-placed triple off the bat of CF Anfernee Seymour. That promoted a shift change for the German pen but Harry Ford was, once again, ready to sacrifice his own at bat for the sake of his team. He drove Seymour across the plate, widening Britain’s lead to five.
In the 8th Seymour and Ford teamed up once again. Anfernee reached on a single to left and Ford sent him around the ring with a homer to center.
In the bottom of the 9th, down by 8 Great Britain’s new pitcher, Tahnaj Thomas, loaded them up for the hometown crowd. He walked the first two batters and hit the third. With none away and the heart of the order at the plate, William Germaine hit a line drive directly at SS Nick Ward for an unassisted double play that left runners on the corners with two away. Daniel Aldrich went down swinging to end the game at 8-1 in Britain’s favor.
With two wins, Britain follows Spain into the undefeated column. The two teams meet up on Tuesday night to see who will go 3-0 into the final day of competition. Germany plays once again tomorrow evening when they take on South Africa who fell 5-4 to Spain in the first game of the tournament play on Friday.