Nicaragua had something to prove after an opening loss to Brazil and did so in devastating fashion. They have run Pakistan out of the tournament to the tune of a 12-0 mercy rule win in seven innings. They will move on to fight another day. Pakistan will have to prepare for the next go around.
Nicaragua started fast and never looked back. They scored twice in each of the first two innings and blew it open with five more in the fourth inning. Another run in the fifth and a two spot in the sixth was the dagger as the mercy rule beckoned after a scoreless top of the seventh from Pakistan. Lead off man Steven Layton who has seen action in AAA this season had two hits in as many at-bats, drove in three and scored two. The son of manager and former big leaguer Marvin Benard, Isaac Benard belted a three run shot. Meanwhile Nicaraguan pitchers gave little to their opponents, limiting them to four hits. Two of those came from Alex Khan who hit .429 across his team's two games.
Nicaragua now awaits the winner of the Argentina versus New Zealand game and can be thought of as a favorite against either team. The winner of that game will face the loser of the Brazil versus Panama game for the second and last WBC ticket. Pakistan can be proud of having shown significant improvement from their 2016 qualifying campaign. There is much to do still but there is good young talent available to keep growing. Hopefully, the resources will be in place to facilitate this. Nicaragua will continue their journey towards their first WBC, the one feather on the cap missing for this strong baseball nation.
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