JUPITER, Florida – The World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Florida has one team in the championship game already. On Friday night, Israel defeated Spain on the power of the right handed bat of Nate Freiman.
The AA first baseman of the San Antonio Missions, Nate Freiman hit a pair of 2-run home runs to lead Israel to a 4-2 win and a spot in the championship game Sunday night. Freiman went 2-for-4 picking up his third and fourth home runs of the tournament.
Justin Schumer picked up the win pitching 5.1 innings allowing just 1 run on 6 hits. Josh Zeid gave up a run in the 9th inning but finished it off to earn the save.
Richard Salazar pitched well for Spain lasting 6 innings and giving up only 2 runs on a home run to Freiman taking the loss. Salazar gave up only 4 hits.
The game was scoreless until the top of the 6th inning when Freiman connected on his first home run. However, Spain kept it a game by picking up a run in the bottom half of the inning when Rafael Alvarez single to center. On the play, Israel center fielder Ben Guez misplayed the ball allowing Alvarez to advance to third and Paco Figueroa, who singled, to score from first. Alvarez would finish the night 3-for-4.
Spain tried to make a comeback in the 9th inning. Lead off hitter Adrian Nieto (1-for-3) doubled to start the inning. However, the most Spain could muster is a few ground outs that would score Nieto but no other runner reached base.
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Eric Bynum is Managing Editor here at Baseball de World and an ESL teacher in South Korea. He has played and/or written about baseball for the past 30 years and is an avid Atlanta Braves fan. Eric also writes for Braves Baseball World and for Call to the Pen.
