Box Score & Plays | Cumulative Stats

MÉRIDA, Mexico – The United States walked off the Dominican Republic, 5-4, in extra innings to win gold at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-15 Baseball World Cup Finals on Sunday night at Parque Kukulcán Alamo.

With the win, the 15U National Team claimed its third World Cup title and eighth gold medal in program history.

Team USA climbed to the top of the mountain on Sunday, picking up its eighth win in nine games and once again leaning on its pitching staff to stay in the fight before a clutch sacrifice fly sent the United States into a championship-caliber dogpile. Four pitchers combined to hold the Dominican Republic to just four runs, its second lowest scored all week, while Calvin Madenspacher played hero with a sacrifice fly to drive in the winning run in an instant classic in Yucatán.

For just the second time in the tournament, the United States faced an early deficit. The tournament's leading offense in the D.R. showcased its firepower from the get-go, stringing together back-to-back singles to kick off the gold medal game before Axel Heredia lifted a sacrifice fly to give the Dominican Republic a 1-0 lead. Jaxxon Hanen entered in relief in the first inning and induced three consecutive outs to limit the damage.

After allowing a first-run inning for the first time in the tournament, Team USA showed no signs of discomfort and battled back. Tyler Early led off the second inning with a base knock and stayed active on the basepaths, scoring just three batters later on a pair of wild pitches.

The U.S. took the lead later that inning when Greyson Wuis drew a walk and later scored on a wild pitch to hand the U.S. a one-run advantage.

Team USA’s bats came alive in the third, notching three of its five hits just in the inning. Matti Di Maggio kicked off the rally with an infield single and would reach third on a wild throw to the first base bag. The United States’ three-hole hitter, Paxton Scoggin, followed and drove Di Maggio home on a comeback line drive to the pitcher to extend the U.S. lead to 3-1.

The Dominican Republic threatened in the fourth, loading the bases on three straight walks with only one out. As he has done throughout the tournament, Noah Vrzal entered when trouble found the basepaths and kept the opposition off the scoreboard. Vrzal pumped nine straight strikes to retire the next two batters, escaping a bases-loaded jam and protecting a 3-1 lead.

Against an offense as dangerous as the Dominican Republic’s, however, throwing strikes can only do so much. Marrero led off the fifth with a base knock up the middle. Then, with the count at 0-2, the Dominican Republic’s top slugger, Ángel Montás, golfed a breaking ball to straightaway center for a 410-foot two-run jack to tie the game at 3-3.

Back level, Team USA put forth a rally in the sixth that came up just short, stranding a pair of runners.

In the seventh, the United States turned to its closer, Jackson McAneeley. After needing just two pitches to record the first out, McAneeley surrendered a base hit to Marrero, who collected his third hit of the day with a hard ground ball deep in the six-hole. With Montás up to bat, McAneeley did not shy away from the challenge, competing in a seven-pitch at-bat that ended with a base hit, but not before catcher Bryant Ju threw out Marrero in an attempted steal of second. McAneeley then triggered a groundout the next at-bat to strand one and give the U.S. a chance to walk it off.

In just seven pitches, two outs were recorded in the home half of the seventh. Di Maggio, however, would not let the U.S. go down that easy. After battling back down 0-2, Di Maggio drew a walk to spark some life in the red, white, and blue’s dugout. A pitching change ensued and gave Marrero a chance to escape the inning.

Just two pitches in, Scoggin reached base on a hit-by-pitch. An intentional walk was issued to Early, and the bases were loaded with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Ju stepped in the batter’s box and worked the count full as the tension in Parque Kukulcán Alamo reached peak. Marrero ended up on top, spinning a letter-high fastball for the third out and sending it to extras.

With runners on first and second per WBSC international tiebreaker rules, the U.S. kept McAneely in the game to face the middle of the Dominican Republic’s order. After punching out the first batter faced, the Dominican Republic attempted an uncharacteristic one-out bunt. Despite being fielded cleanly, the ball skipped past third base and allowed the D.R. to take a 4-3 lead in extras.

Wuis opened the home half of the eighth with a bunt of his own and reached on a fielder’s choice, while a throwing error allowed Early to score from second and tie the game. After an intentional walk to Head and a lineout, Madenspacher stepped to the plate and delivered a fly ball to center field. Team USA put all its chips on the table and gave pinch-runner Noah Osterman the green light, who slid head first into home and scored the winning run for the United States.

Hanen fired 3.1 innings of one-hit ball to hold the Dominican Republic scoreless before Vrzal entered and punched out three in 2.2 innings of work. McAneeley hurled the final 2.0 frames and surrendered one run on two hits. Early collected the only multi-hit performance for the United States in his 2-for-2 showing while Di Maggio, Head, and Scoggin recorded a base hit apiece.

The United States pitching staff repeatedly kept the team in close games and finished with a tournament-best 1.72 ERA. The U.S. led all teams in innings pitched with 61.0, while the staff held opponents to a .191 batting average and gave up less than five hits a game.

Following his performance on the bump, Vrzal was named the Most Valuable Player of the World Cup Finals. Team USA placed one player on the All-World team, with Raylen Hunter earning All-World honors as an outfielder after posting a perfect fielding percentage in addition to making several outstanding plays in the outfield. Hunter also took home the Leading Hitter award after recording a tournament-best .552 batting average while leading all players in hits with 16. Early earned recognition as the tournament’s leader in stolen bases with seven.

Overall the 15U National Team improved to 3-1 in World Cup championship games. Additionally, the United States has won each of the last three of its last World Cups it has participated in.

To stay up to date with the USA Baseball 15U National Team, follow along with @USABaseball15U on Twitter/X, and @USABaseball on Instagram. For more information on the schedule including live statistics and streaming, visit HERE.