Montealto stars, Nicaragua beats Korea
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>After two years away from WBSC Baseball
World Cup play, Nicaragua returned with an upset.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Behind a five-RBI game from Luis Montealto, world No. 14 Nicaragua stunned second-ranked Korea with a<strong><a href="https://u23bwc.wbsc.org/en/2021/schedule-and-results/box-score/85425" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" 6-4 (opens in a new tab)"> 6-4</a></strong> victory on the first afternoon of Group B play for the III U-23 Baseball World Cup in Hermosillo.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Nicaragua seized the afternoon’s first
lead in an odd third inning. After William Rayo led off with a single to left
field, he moved to second when Cristhian Sandoval was hit by a pitch and to
third when Aldo Espinoza laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the pair. Korea
starting pitcher Dong Ju Moon then lost his command, hitting Benjamin Alegría
with a pitch to load the bases and Elián Miranda with another to plate Rayo
with the game’s first run.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Thursday’s visiting team held the lead
until the bottom of the fifth when Korea came alive. Pinch-hitting out of the
eighth spot in his team’s lineup, Hyo Won Jo led off with a single through the
left side and moved to second on Do Yeong Kim’s single to right-center two
batters later. Dong Hyeok Kim singled to plate Jo, and two batters later, Myeon
Jun Ko singled to center to drive in two more, giving Korea its first lead.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>It was short-lived. In the top of the
sixth, Miranda led off with a single, and Montealto followed with his team’s
first homer of the tournament to knot the score at 3-3.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>In the seventh, Nicaragua took control. With the bases loaded after Espinoza, Alegría and Miranda all worked walks against Seung Woo Ju, Montealto powered a bases-clearing double that one-hopped the wall in left field and put his team in front for good.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:ve30/twitter-iframe {"url":"https://twitter.com/WBSC/status/1441201051244191748"} -->
<blockquote class="wp-block-ve30-twitter-iframe twitter-tweet" allowtransparency="0" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" width="auto"><a href="https://twitter.com/WBSC/status/1441201051244191748"></a></blockquote>
<!-- /wp:ve30/twitter-iframe -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Julio Raudez pitched through trouble to
nail down the save, allowing one run in the ninth but getting Jae Hyuk Kim on a
high bouncer back to the mound for the final out as the potential tying run at
the plate.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Coming off its victory, Nicaragua faces
world No. 13 Panama on Friday morning at 10:30 while Korea will try to rebound
against world No. 8 the Netherlands at 15:00.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->