Israel's national baseball team players celebrate their victory against the Netherlands after their first round game of the World Baseball Classic at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on March 9, 2017. (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-Je)
Israel’s national baseball team defeated The Netherlands 4-2 in its final game of the first round of the World Baseball Classic, securing a 3-0 sweep in the group stage.
Although Israel’s spot in the second round of the tournament was already guaranteed Wednesday as a result of the Dutch team’s defeat of Taiwan, Thursday’s win helped the Israeli squad keep alive its improbable perfect record to start the tournament.
After going up 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning, Israel was able to fend off the Dutch with stellar pitching, giving up only one run, five hits and five walks over the course of nine innings.
Israel will now face either Japan or the winner of the Cuba versus Australia game on Thursday in the second round, which will take place in Tokyo.
Infielder Scott Burcham (R) of Israel throws to the first base to make a double play against the Netherlands during the 8th inning of their first round game of the World Baseball Classic at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on March 9, 2017. (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-Je)
Ranked only 38 in the world, the Israeli team has become the tournament’s unlikely darlings, surprising many by even making it this far.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
Nearly all the members on Team Israel are American Jews. By WBC rules, a player may compete for a country if he is eligible for citizenship under its laws. Israel extends the right of automatic citizenship to Jews and their non-Jewish family members.
After beating the hometown favorite South Korea in a thrilling 2-1 extra innings game on Monday, the Israeli squad defeated Taiwan in a 15-7 drubbing on Tuesday.
Agencies contributed to this report.
Advertisement
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
