Jason Savacool took to the mound in the ninth inning of the championship game of the World Baseball-Softball Consideration Under-18 Baseball World Cup in Gijang City, South Korea.
It was a long way from Baldwinsville.
A summer full of camps, tournaments and extraordinary opportunities for Savacool culminated with his appearance on at the U-18 World Cup, where Team USA could not quite pull off a fifth consecutive championship in the biennial tournament.
Favored to win it all again, Team USA opened on Aug. 29 by shutting out South Africa 11-0 and defeating Chinese Taipei 8-1 a day later.
It was against Chinese Taipei that Savacool made his tournament debut. Pitching 2 1/3 innings in relief of starter Max Rajcic, Savacool was superb, not surrendering a run despite allowing three walks and a hit.
Savacool made only one brief appearance in the six games that followed. As that happened, Team USA took its only loss of the preliminary round 16-7 to Japan on Sept. 1. but rebounded with a six-run seventh-inning to defeat Spain 8-3 two days later and then topped Panama 5-3.
Team USA finished second in Group B, advancing to the World Cup’s “Super Round” where the top two finishers would advance to the championship game.
Nearly tripping up against Australia, Team USA pulled it out 2-1 on Sept. 4, claiming the victory on Drew Romo’s game-winning single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning.
A 10-0 romp over Canada followed with Team USA pitcher Ben Hernandez tossing a complete-game shutout, only allowing five hits. Then, against host South Korea, the Americans trailed 5-0 after two innings, but rallied to win 8-5 and put itself in the gold-medal game on Sept. 8.
It turned out to be a rematch with Chinese Taipei, who was far tougher the second time around, using single runs in the second and fifth innings to grab a 2-0 advantage.
That’s where it stood in the top of the ninth when Savacool entered the game, the fourth Team USA pitcher of the night. As it turned out, Savacool faced just one batter and struck him out.
In the bottom of the ninth, Team USA threatened to win the title, scoring a run and putting the tying and winning runs on base with two out. But Chinese Taipei pitcher Po You Chen recorded the final out.
Now Savacool returns to Baldwinsville for his senior year at Baker High School. He has verbally committed to attend the University of Maryland in the fall of 2020.
