U23s wrap up World Cup campaign with thrilling victory over Chinese Taipei

The U23s brought their first ever WBSC World Cup campaign to a victorious conclusion with a thrilling win over Chinese Taipei.

Heading into the bottom of the seventh and final innings, GB were 2-0 up but a double and a single put a run on the board and put the crowd on the edge of their seats.

Sam Hutchinson, who had taken over on the mound from an excellent Oliver Duthie ans struck out two batters, got the final out to secure the win.

Oliver Duthie was in excellent form for GB from the mound

GB moved to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second after singles by James Quinn-Irons, Max Viera and Ray Mercer loaded the bases with two outs.

Max Viera in action against Chinese Tapei today

Quinn-Irons scored after Ben Leid reached first on a catcher’s interference call.

Pitchers dominated keeping runs off the board until the top of the fourth when GB doubled their lead.

First baseman Aidan Kane led off with a double to left centre and then scored on a throwing error.

Great pitching from Duthie and Hutchinson, backed up by error free fielding kept Chinese Taipei scoreless until the dramatic final inning.

Duthie struck out five batters over his five scoreless innings while Hutchinson finished his two innings with two strikeouts.

"What a win, what a tournament, what a team. After all the adversity this group faced for them to come back and best the #7 and the #3 programmes in the world on back to back days speaks to their nature.

Manager Jonathon Cramman and his staff has led GB U23s to two famous victories in their first ever World Cup

“I have to extend a huge thank you to Drew Spencer for getting us here, to Gary Anderson for his continued council and support and to our undeniable MVP Paul Stodart for being everything from delegation leader to laundry man and everything in between.

“I'm so proud of how we conducted ourselves since camp started and know that this group is going to do big things for Great Britain Baseball for many years to come," said manager Jonathon Cramman after the final game.

A huge thank you from British baseball fans should go to Jonathon, his team of coaches and of course the players for the way they have competed over the last week.

Also a big thank you to UK Sport and the National Lottery for their continued support of the GB Baseball programme.