Schedule released for XXVI 18U Baseball World Cup

18U Baseball World Cup will be played from August 30 to September 8 in Taichung

The schedule for the XXVI 18U Baseball World Cup, which will played from August 30 to September 8 in Taichung, has been released. 12 teams will participate in the tournament, which is expected to be the most competitive in event history.

The 18U Baseball World Cup starts on August 30 with the preliminary round robin, which will get concluded on Tuesday, September 3. The top three teams of each pool advance to the semi-final round which again will be played in a round-robin format and starts on September 5. The top two teams of the semi-final round will play for the world title in the Gold Medal Game on September 8.

Teams are split into two first-round pools. Group A consists of host Chinese Taipei, last year’s silver medalist Canada, Czech Republic, Mexico, Venezuela and Japan. In Group B defending champion USA, record title holder Cuba, Australia, Colombia, Italy and Korea are playing. Games will be played at Intercontinental Stadium, Taichung Baseball Stadium and Dou-Liou Stadium.

The first game day will see Chinese Taipei and Mexico square off in the evening game following the opening ceremony at Intercontinental Stadium. Other first-day matchups include Colombia vs USA, Australia vs Cuba, Venezuela vs Czech Republic, Japan vs Canada and Italy vs Korea. Complete Schedule

In 2012 the United States claimed the world title by defeating Canada in the Gold Medal Game in at the 25th edition in Seoul, Korea. Chinese Taipei picked up the Bronze Medal by edging out Colombia in the game for third place.

Cuba is the record 18U world champion, having won 11 of the 25 titles. However they haven’t claimed first place or reached the Gold Medal Game since the 2004 edition, when the event last was hosted by Chinese Taipei.

18U - SCHEDULE

Photo : Intercontinental Stadium, Taichung

(From IBAF Website)