Harwood Heights resident Jack Ryan hit a game-tying RBI double and later connected for a home run to help the U.S. 12U National Team beat Chinese Taipei 7-2 in the U12 Baseball World Cup’s gold medal game.
After the final out on Sunday, Aug. 2, at the World Baseball Softball Confederation tournament in Tainan, Taiwan, the U.S. players dogpiled on one another on the field. Ryan said it was the most memorable part of the tournament.
“Everything was so heavy being in the middle,” Ryan said. “It was awesome.”
He added: “I don’t even think I was thinking. I was just so happy because that was the biggest experience I’ve had in baseball.”
Due to the time difference, questions were emailed to USA Baseball press officer Jay Garneau after the game and he later conducted the interview with Ryan.
Ryan was one of three U.S. players named to the All-World Team at the World Cup. He led all players at the 12-nation tournament with three home runs and his 1.091 slugging percentage was tops among players with at least six at-bats. He also ranked second at the tournament in batting average (.545), on-base percentage (.643) and RBIs (13).
Ryan had a consistent approach when he stepped into the batter’s box.
“[I was] trying to hit a line drive over the shortstop’s head as hard as I can,” Ryan said.
The U.S. trailed 2-0 after two innings on Sunday, Aug. 2, but in the top of the third Zach Torres hit a run-scoring single and then Ryan doubled to drive in another run. Chinese Taipei made a pitching change, but the U.S. (8-1) scored three more runs in the third to take control of the game.
“When we tied it and scored those two runs, then everyone started getting up again, Ryan said.
Ryan, who will be a seventh-grader at Giles School in Norridge in the fall, led off the top of the fifth and hit the first pitch he saw over the center-field wall to give the U.S. a 6-2 lead.
Ryan batted second and finished 2-for-4 with two runs, two RBIs and a strikeout. He played left field.
The U.S. team’s success came despite the players spending a limited amount of time together. Following tryouts in Compton, Calif., the 18-player National Team roster was announced on Saturday, July 18, and the tournament kicked off on Friday, July 24. Ryan said “it was easy” for the Americans to play together, in part, because of their mutual love of baseball. However, he added that the team was disciplined during tryouts and that might have served as a bonding experience.
“Since we didn’t pick up all the trash after (manager Tanner Vesely) told us 1,000 times to pick up our trash in the locker room — and to stop touching the ping-pong table in the locker room after we broke it — and then he got mad at us,” Ryan said. “And we had to run for like five minutes, 15 minutes.”
Twitter: @Ryan_Nilsson
