Box Score | PxP | Cumulative Stats

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – In a preview of the Fourth of July fireworks that followed the contest, Charlie Condon’s (Georgia) two-run single in the bottom of the seventh handed the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team a thrilling 7-6 walk-off victory over Chinese Taipei Tuesday evening at Segra Stadium.

The late rally sealed Team USA’s fifth-straight win over Chinese Taipei, completing a clean sweep of the two clubs’ 20th International Friendship Series.

It would take a star-spangled rally for the U.S. to rally from a two-run, sixth-inning deficit after Chinese Taipei scored three times in the top of the frame to claim its first lead in the series.

One of Team USA’s brightest stars throughout the series ignited the comeback, as Kaelen Culpepper (Kansas State) delivered a leadoff single in the home half of the sixth. He would come home on a Jac Caglianone (Florida) ground ball to slice the deficit in half heading into the final inning of the weather-shortened series finale.

Two more U.S. stalwarts, Seaver King (Wake Forest) and Griff O’Ferrall (Virginia) wasted no time in electrifying the holiday crowd by coming through with back-to-back singles to open the seventh. A passed ball allowed O’Ferrall to move into scoring position, setting up Condon’s sharp liner through the left side of the infield to chase home both the tying and winning runs.

O’Ferrall’s game-winning tally marked his ninth run of the series, as the shortstop finished the five-game set with a blistering .619 batting mark to lead all hitters. Condon was equally as impressive at the plate, driving in his eighth and ninth runs of the series, which also represented a series best.  

KEY MOMENTS

• Just as it had in each of the first four contests of the series, the U.S. struck first after O’Ferrall drew a leadoff walk to start the home half of the first, moved to third on a JJ Wetherholt (West Virginia) base hit and scored on Condon’s double-play grounder.
• Chinese Taipei drew even in the second, as Wen-Hsio Ma hit his second home run of the series to tie it up at 1-1.
• Following an 89-minute weather delay after rain and lightning halted play in the top of the second, the U.S. kicked its offense into gear in the bottom of the second; following a Chinese Taipei error, Braden Montgomery(Stanford) belted a long two-run homer to right to hand Team USA a 3-1 advantage.
• But the visitors battled back as they would throughout the contest, erasing the two-run U.S. cushion on Yu Wei Kao’s two-out double to right in the third.
• Team USA reclaimed the lead in the fifth, thanks to a one-out triple by King and another clutch hit by O’Ferrall.
• The one-run advantage would be short-lived, however; Chinese Taipei responded with its biggest rally of the series in the sixth, sending nine hitters to the plate as part of a three-run surge.
• With one on and two out, Chun Kai Liao singled, before Jui Mu Chen coaxed one of three walks handed out by U.S. pitchers in the inning to load the bases; Min Sih Chen beat out an infield chopper to plate the tying run, before a bases-loaded walk and another infield single brought in the go-ahead runs.

NOTEWORTHY

• Brandon Neely (Florida) fanned two of the three hitters he faced in a perfect fifth inning, finishing the series with five punchouts in his 2.0 innings of work.
• Jay Woolfork (Virginia) also registered a 1-2-3 inning of relief—his second in the series—to keep the U.S. within one run late in the contest.
• O’Ferrall logged his fourth multi-hit game of the series, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, finishing the series 13-of-21 at the plate.
• Culpepper also torched Chinese Taipei pitching to the tune of a .533 (8-of-15) batting mark, while King also notched a two-hit performance in the victory.
• Team USA batted .333 as a team and outscored Chinese Taipei 46-11 in the series, with eight different hitters finishing with batting averages of .300 or better.
• U.S. pitching also registered a strong week, logging a 2.41 ERA while limiting the opposition to .176 hitting in the series.
• Of the 19 Team USA hurlers who made mound appearances, 13 turned in scoreless series.

ON DECK

• The USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., will host the opening three games of the 44th USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series, July 7-9, while games four and five of the series will be played at Joseph Riley Jr. Park in Charleston on July 11 and 12.
• Tickets for this year’s Collegiate National Team’s series with Japan can be found HERE.

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Stay tuned to @USABaseballCNT on Twitter for the most up-to-date news about the 2023 Collegiate National Team.