High School

Team USA’s 18U squad blanks Japan to capture WBSC Tournament crown

South Walton’s Coleman Borthwick named MVP as USA grabs 11th World Cup title

Kevin L. Smith

The U.S. National Baseball 18U team beat Japan, 2-0, on Sunday in the WBSC World Cup championship game at Okinawa Cellular Stadium.
The U.S. National Baseball 18U team beat Japan, 2-0, on Sunday in the WBSC World Cup championship game at Okinawa Cellular Stadium. / USA Baseball

Coleman Borthwick of South Walton (Florida) pitched a complete-game shutout as Team USA beat Japan, 2-0, on Sunday in the WBSC U-18 World Cup championship game in front of a sold-out crowd at Okinawa Cellular Stadium.

Team USA now has 11 World Cup titles, tying Cuba for the most championship crowns in WBSC U-18 baseball history. The Americans also redeemed themselves following a loss to Japan in the opening Super Round contest on Thursday.

The 18U squad improved to 11-6 in the World Cup finals. Team USA has reached gold in six of the previous eight WBSC World Cup, which includes a 4-0 record against Japan in title games.

Borthwick, who was named the U-18 Tournament MVP, allowed three hits and a walk with six strikeouts. Overall, Borthwick went 1-0, didn’t allow a run, struck out 12, and gave up three hits and a walk in 10 innings of work.

At the plate, Borthwick hit .300 in 30 at-bats with five runs batted in and six runs scored.

USA’s offense didn’t score its first run until the fourth inning. Brody Schumaker of Santa Margarita Catholic (Calif.) and Anthony Murphy of Corona High School (Calif.) hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. 

Jaden Jackson of St. John Bosco (Calif.) followed up with an infield hit that brought home Schumaker for a 1-0 USA advantage.

In the top of the fifth, Schumaker recorded a sacrifice fly, which sent home Aiden Ruiz of The Stony Brook School (New York) to give USA its second run of the game.

Ruiz played a big part in cutting down Japan’s opportunity to score in the third inning. Shintaro Sakamoto walked to lead off then moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt. Later on, Ruiz snagged a line drive up the middle and tagged Sakamoto to end the inning.

Team USA had four of its players named to the All-World team:

  • Will Brick, a catcher out of Christian Brothers High School (Tenn.), batted .333 with three doubles and a triple.
  • Grady Emerson, a third baseman out of Argyle (Texas), hit .346 with a .949 OPS and reached base in eight of his nine games.
  • Gio Rojas, a starting pitcher out of Stoneman Douglas High School (Fla.), went 2-0 and didn’t allow a run, including a complete-game shutout.
  • Ruiz, a shortstop, batted .379 and collected 11 hits.

USA’s pitching staff allowed 25 hits throughout the tournament, the fewest in U-18 team history. The team had an 0.57 overall earned-run average, with a 0.64 WHIP and a .126 BAA.

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Kevin L. Smith
KEVIN L. SMITH

Kevin L. Smith, a Rochester (NY) native and a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, has been covering high school sports for over a decade. He started out as a freelance sportswriter in 2013. Since then, he’s held sportswriter and editor positions for newspapers in Coudersport (PA), Sayre (PA) and Oswego (NY). Smith currently covers high school sports in the Greater Syracuse Area for syracuse.com | Post-Standard, a position he’s held since 2021. You can follow him on social media @KevLSmittie. Story ideas can be sent to KLSFreelancing@outlook.com.

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