Israel gets 1st Olympic baseball win; Mexico eliminated

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Israel had just routed Mexico for its first Olympic baseball victory, riding a loud three-run homer by Danny Valencia that helped it jump to a six-run lead, and Nick Rickles wanted to check the reaction.

“I don't think it’s so much about beating Mexico.” he said after Monday's 12-5 win. “I think it’s a lot to just raise awareness for baseball in Israel. For me, I was just taking in the moment and seeing after the game the amount of love that we received from people back in Israel. We had messages on top of messages from people just saying thank you."

Valencia went deep against a Double-A pitcher playing in his 15th consecutive minor league season, Rickles had three RBIs and Israel pounded relievers Fernando Salas and Oliver Pérez in a six-run seventh inning to reach the tournament's double-elimination phase.

Israel (1-2) plays Tuesday against the winner of Monday night’s game between South Korea and the Dominican Republic (both 1-1), with the chance to advance to a matchup against the United States or Japan on Wednesday that will determine a berth in the gold-medal game.

Rickles has been with the national team program for a decade and played a role in the Olympic buildup. Israel won its group at the 2017 World Baseball Classic and beat Cuba in the second round, then won a two-continent Olympic qualifying tournament and beat out the Netherlands for one of the six Olympic berths. It lost its opener to South Korea 6-5 in 10 innings.

“I don't think there was a lot of expectations coming into Israel playing baseball at all,” said Rickles, a 31-year-old catcher who retired from Philadelphia’s minor league system during spring training in 2019 to become a Milwaukee minor league coach.

With pitchers such as Julio Urías, Luis Cessa and José Urquidy...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Israel-gets-1st-Olympic-baseball-win-Mexico-16355447.php