Box Score | Play-by-Play | Cumulative Stats
Fayetteville, North Carolina – On Saturday, June 29, at Segura Stadium, Nolan Shubert (Oklahoma State University) hit two home runs and Derrick Smith (North Carolina State University) made a difficult save to lead the U.S. to a 5-4 victory in the first game of the 21st United States vs. Chinese Taipei International Friendly Series.
What actually happened
- Chinese Taipei (0-1) got the lead in the top of the first inning with consecutive hits. Cheng Junwei hit a double down the left field line and Zeng Yuqing drove it home to give Chinese Taipei a 1-0 lead.
- Shubert hit a home run to deep center field for Team USA (1-0) in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game at 1-1.
- Brooks Bryan (Troy) hit an RBI single through the right side in the bottom of the fifth to give Team USA a 2-1 lead.
- Shubert hit a three-run homer into deep left-center field for his second homer of the day and gave Team USA a four-run lead, 5-1.
- Chinese Taipei capitalized on an error in the top of the third inning to score three runs and close the gap to one, 5-4. Tseng scored two RBIs with a double down the left field line and Lai Chun singled to bring in the third run.
- Chinese Taipei put pressure on Team USA in the top of the ninth, when a single by Huang Bo-rui sent a tying runner to third base, but Georgia Tech’s Drew Burress hit a laser home run through center field to prevent the score.
- Chinese Taipei then survived a jam with the bases loaded, but Smith came through to get the save and give the USA a 5-4 victory in Game 1.
Notable Stats
- Shubert reached base in all five at-bats, recorded two home runs, one double and two walks (one intentional), had four RBI, homered twice and had a slugging percentage of 3.333.
- The Americans received seven walks, with Shubert, Burress and Bryan each earning two walks.
- Tseng had two hits, one run and three RBI for Chinese Taipei.
- The Americans struck out 11 batters, with Patrick Forbes (Louisville) striking out 5. Nelson Kerjo (Oregon State) was the pitcher, along with Gabriel Goeckle (Arkansas) who struck out 2 batters.
On deck:
The U.S. team will travel to the National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina, for the next two games of the 21st USA vs. Chinese Taipei International Friendship Series, sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), on Sunday, June 30 and Monday, July 1.
