Preview: Netherlands, Puerto Rico looking for second win in Opening Round of the WBSC Premier12 2024
Following a rest day for the two teams, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands return to the field in an Opening Round Group A matchup on Tuesday at 8pm local time at Estadio Panamericano Charros de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico in the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS being tied in the standings with 1-1 records.
Puerto Rico had opened the tournament with a 1-0 win over USA on Saturday before falling to host Mexico on Sunday 5-7. The Netherlands meanwhile had celebrated a spectacular come-from-behind win over Panama (9-8) in their opening match, while then losing 2-12 to Team USA the day after.
The team from Puerto Rico, currently the No. 8 in the KONAMI/WBSC Men’s Baseball World Ranking is hitting .212/.297/.333 through the first two games of the WBSC Premier12 2024. They have collected 14 hits so far, but a combined nine of them came through Sabin Ceballos and Carlos Cortes, who lead the team with nine respective seven total bases.
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Netherlands, which are No. 7 in the rankings, have shown a balanced attack sofar, hitting .306/.333/.486 in the first two contests. They have scored 11 runson 22 hits highlighted by home runs from Didi Gregorius, Denzel Richardson andSharlon Schoop. On defense the Dutch team has been flawless so far with no errorsin 70 chances.
Tom de Blokwill take the mound as starting pitcher for the Netherlands. The 28-year-oldright-hander from Amsterdam, who played for Team Europe in the Global BaseballSeries against Samurai Japan in March, played three seasons in the DetroitTigers organization with an ERA of 3.91 in 64 games between 2017 and 2019. Thisyear he celebrated a successful season with Neptunus in the Dutch Hoofdklasse,going 10-1 with an ERA of 1.29 in 16 starts. He struck out 95 batters andwalked 30 in 105 innings pitched.
22-year-old Agnel Miranda will be Puerto Rico’s starting pitcher in the matchup. The right-hander is playing in its second WBSC tournament this year. He played for Puerto Rico in this year’s WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup, allowing three hits, two runs and four walks in nine innings, while striking out eight. At Southeastern University he appeared in 13 games with an ERA of 1.69 through 16 innings.
Since 2011 Puerto Rico and the Netherlands have met six times on the international stage with each program celebrating three wins. In the opening round of the WBSC Premier12 in 2015 the Netherlands prevailed 11-7. In the World Baseball Classic 2017 Puerto Rico had the upper hand with a 4-3 win. The last time these countries squared off was in the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in 2018 where Puerto Rico won 3-2.