Baseball players couldn’t get a ticket to the Tokyo Games in their last Olympic qualifying tournament. In the semi-finals of the OKT Championships in the Mexican city of Puebla, the Kingdom team led by Hensley Mullins did not lose a chance to Venezuela. After seven games it ended: 10-0.
The Netherlands previously lost 9-3 to Venezuela and also lost 4-3 to the Dominican Republic.
Venezuela is now competing with the Dominican Republic for the remaining Olympic ticket. Japan, Israel, Korea, Mexico and the United States have already qualified for the Games.
Venezuela already took the lead in the first half through Hernan Pérez. In the third inning, things went wrong for Team Kingdom. Pitcher Jair Jurrjens gave up several hits and scored by Alexei Amarista and Danri Vazquez. With a race by Robinson Chirinos, Venezuela ran up 6-0.
Mullins replaced Jürgens, Lars Hoeger, who held up well, but the Orange team were unable to score against the Venezuelans. With Kevin Kelly on the hill, Engelb Vielma made it 8-0. Then with Juan Carlos Solbaran as pitcher, Perez hit another Homer and the score was 10-0.
Dutch baseball players have participated in the Games four times since 1996. Baseball disappeared from the program after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but the sport returned in Tokyo.
