2002 World Junior Championship

The 2002 World Junior Championship was the 20th World Junior Championship. It was held from August 2 through August 12 in Sherbrooke, QC in Canada. The Cuba team won their 11th title and Taiwan took Silver.

Schedule

August 1

• Venezuela 19, Brazil 1. Vicente Cafaro crushed 2 homers and drove in 5 runs, while Jesus Caro finished 7 innings.
• Netherlands 3, Canada 12. Shawn Bowman collected 7 RBI and 2 homers, and Dave Davidson completed the game as he only allowed 2 runs in 7 innings.

August 2

• Brazil 8, USA 20. Lastings Milledge and Delmon Young both blasted 2 homers, and Philip Stringer and Allen Craig also collected 3 hits. Chad Billingsley fanned 11 in 5 innings to get the win. Felipe Mukai and Rodrigo Shindo homered for Brazil.
• South Korea 14, Spain 1. Sung-yul Lee hit a homer and Jeong Seo got 3 hits included a triple.
• Cuba 15, Netherlands 3. Liuben Morales and Eliu Torres both drove in 3 runs. Juan Linares pitched 5 innings with 7 Ks to get the win.
• Taiwan 12, Italy 2. Chin-Lung Hu and Chien-Yu Kuo homered for Taiwan, and the winning pitcher was Yung-Chieh Yeh, who allowed 2 runs in 5 innings. Leonardo Zileri got the only RBI for the Italians.
• Australia 6, Venezuela 7. Hector Gonzalez crushed a walk-off homer against Scott Mitchinson.
• Canada 21, Panama 11. In another batter's contest, Eric Wolfe, Adam Loewen, Jamie Romak and Shawn Bowman all collected 3 RBI. Abdiel Carol hit a homer with 3 RBI for Panama.

August 3

• Spain 4, Brazil 20. After allowing 20 runs yesterday, the Brazil bounced back and also scored 20. Mario Matsumori collected 5 RBI, and Rogerio Mukai completed the game with 10 strikeouts.
• Netherlands 19, Italy 1. Rodiaan Gyselaar homered twice with 7 RBI to help his country knock down Italy. Jos de Jong was the winning pitcher.
• Venezuela 3, USA 13. Mike Rogers and Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered for America, and Delmon Young got 3 hits. Jeffrey Allison completed the game with 10 Ks in 8 innings.
• Panama 10, Taiwan 11. Víctor Almengor Jr. blasted 3 homers in a game, but that was not enough for his team to get the win. Chin-Lung Hu, Chien-Yu Kuo and Chin-Min Chen each hit a homer, and Wei-Yin Chen was the winning pitcher.
• Australia 4, South Korea 5. David Sutherland's 3-run homer helped Australia get the lead in the 8th inning, but Liam O'Flaherty allowed a walk-off to Ju-hwan Na. Eun-beom Song was the winning pitcher.
• Canada 4, Cuba 3. Deinys Suarez blanked the Canadians for 8 innings, but Eric Wolfe hit a 3-run triple in the 9th inning and they grabbed the win. Matt Tosoni also pitched 8 innings, and the save went to Karl Mejlholm.

August 4

• Spain 1, Venezuela 20. Spain allowed 20 runs in back-to-back games. Heliezer Aguilar hit a homer with 3 RBI, and Vicente Cafaro added a 2-run homer. Jesus Mejias only allowed a run with 5 Ks to get the win.
• South Korea 11, Brazil 10. Another close game for the Koreans. Dae-woo Kim and Kyung-su Kim homered, and Kyung-su Park drove in 4 runs.
• Italy 2, Canada 18. Tyler Williams was 3-for-5 with 2 homers, and Shawn Bowman crushed a dinger again. Jonathan Forest pitched 6 innings and got the win.
• Cuba 11, Panama 5. Juan Linares - who was named the best right-handed pitcher of the event later - crushed 2 homers with 6 runs and led his country to beat Panama. Kenny Rodriguez fanned 5 in 7 2/3 innings to get the win, but he surrendered 5 runs.
• Taiwan 16, Netherlands 3. Chin-Ming Chen collected 3 RBI, and Tsung-Chun Wu hit a homer. Winning pitcher Sung-Wei Tseng completed 5 innings with 2 Ks.
• USA 9, Australia 7. Delmon Young saved his country again, as he knocked in 2 runs and hit a homer. Tyler Bullock got 2 long balls, and Ian Kennedy fanned 10 to get the win.

August 5

• Panama 11, Italy 2. Italian was destroyed again, and that was their 4th straight game to allow more than 10 runs. Abraham Aguilar homered for Panama.
• Australia 28, Spain 3. Another European country struggled in the event. Michael Sadler homered and drove in 6 runs, and Trent D'Antonio collected 5 runs and a homer. Adam Pelley was 5-for-6, and Liam O'Flaherty pitched 6 shutout innings.
• Cuba 8, Taiwan 4. Ronnier Mustelier was 3-for-5, and winning pitcher Liuben Morales completed 7 2/3 innings with 8 strikeouts.
• USA 13, South Korea 7. Philip Stringer hit 2 homers, and Tyler Bullock collected his 3rd homer of the event.

August 6

• Brazil 7, Australia 13. Four Australian batters collected 2 RBI, and winning pitcher Brent Hardy pitched 3 2/3 innings. Rodrigo Shindo homered for Brazil.
• USA 13, Spain 3. Delmon Young extended his elite performance, blasting 3 homers with 5 RBI. Lastings Milledge, Allen Craig and Ian Stewart also homered.
• Panama 6, Netherlands 4. Catcher Roberto Mina homered, and Raul Gonzalez pitched 6 innings to get the win.
• Korea 11, Venezuela 12. In the first extra-inning game of the event, Venezuela's Miguel Hernandez drove in the winning run in the 11th inning. Sung-yul lee, Ju-hwan Na and Yun-o Choi all homered for Korea, and their pitchers combined struck out 15. However, they also committed 5 errors and lost the game.

August 7

• Italy 2, Cuba 11. Ernesto Molinet was 3-for-4, and Armando Martinez recorded the win with 2 shutout innings.
• Taiwan 19, Canada 14. Chao-Kuan Wu hit a homer with 4 RBI, and Chien-Yu Kuo, Chin-Ming Chen and Tsung-Han Yu also homered. Tyler Williams and Chris Robinson both had 4 RBI for Canada.

Standings After Round-Robin

Pool A

1. Cuba, 4-1
2. Taiwan, 4-1
3. Canada, 4-1
4. Panama, 2-3
5. Netherlands, 1-4
6. Italy, 0-5

Pool B

1. USA, 5-0
2. Venezuela, 4-1
3. South Korea, 3-2
4. Australia, 2-3
5. Brazil, 1-4
6. Spain, 0-5

August 8

• Italy 2, Brazil 11. Felipe Mukai was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI, and winning pitcher Gustavo Watanabe fanned 6 in 7 innings.
• South Korea 0, Taiwan 9. Chien-Yu Kuo was 5-for-5 with a homer, and Wei-Yin Chen shut out the South Korea with 11 strikeouts.
• Australia 6, Cuba 7. Alejandro Zuaznabal crushed a solo shot, and Cuba won due to Yeison Pacheco's walk-off hit.
• Canada 17, Venezuela 6. Adam Loewen and Eric Wolfe both homered, and Shawn Bowman got 4 RBI.
• Panama 2, USA 21. Delmon Young continued ruling the event, blasting 2 homers with 4 RBI and the USA advanced to the quarterfinals. Allen Craig also homered and gained 4 RBI.

August 9

• Italy 14, Spain 0. Matteo Modica completed 6 shutout innings, and Leonardo Zileri homered while driving in 5 runs.
• Brazil 15 Netherlands 5. Rodrigo Shindo and Mario Matsumori both homered to help Brazil secure the 9th spot.
• Venezuela 0, Australia 3. Adam Bright pitched 7 innings with 8 strikeouts to get the win, and Tyrone Hambly collected 2 RBI. Julio Sojo completed 8 innings, but he surrendered 3 runs and got the loss.
• South Korea 7, Panama 0. Seok-hoon Chi and Chang-seok Lee homered, and winning pitcher Chang-hoon Kim completed 7 shutout innings with 9 strikeouts.

August 10

• Australia 10, South Korea 5. Daniel Berg homered twice and Justin Flechter pitched 5 shutout innings to get the win.
• Taiwan 4, USA 3. Chin-Lung Hu crushed a game-winning homer in the 8th inning, and Ian Stewart also homered for the USA.
• Venezuela 14, Panama 3. Venezuela scored 12 in the 2nd inning, and Simon Ramos completed the game with 4 Ks.
• Cuba 8, Canada 5. Alejandro Zuaznabal crushed a homer and got 3 RBI to help Cuba advance to the final.

August 11

• Canada 3, USA 12. Chris Lubanski homered twice, Delmon Young and Lastings Milledge also homered and USA won Bronze.
• Cuba 9, Taiwan 6. Chao-Kuan Wu homered for Taiwan, but Cuba scored 4 thanks to two errors in the 8th inning and grabbed the Gold.

Final Standings

1. Cuba
2. Taiwan
3. USA
4. Canada
5. Australia
6. South Korea
7. Venezuela
8. Panama
9. Brazil
10. Netherlands
11. Italy
12. Spain

Awards

• MVP: Delmon Young, USA OF
• Outstanding Defensive Player: Vicente Cafaro, Venezuela 2B

All-Star Team

• C: Michael Sadler, Australia
• 1B: Ian Stewart, USA
• 2B: Vicente Cafaro, Venezuela
• SS: Shawn Bowman, Canada
• 3B: Yulieski Gurriel, Cuba
• OF: Lastings Milledge, USA
• OF: Eliu Torres, Cuba
• OF: Adam Loewen, Canada
• DH: Delmon Young, USA
• LHP: Wei-Yin Chen, Taiwan
• RHP: Juan Linares, Cuba