Team USA with Canes' Seigler wins gold at WBSC U-18 World Cup
The Team USA Baseball 18U National Team with Cartersville High School senior Anthony Seigler completed a dominant sweep of the 2017 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup Sunday with an 8-0 blanking of Korea in the gold medal game at Port Arthur Stadium in Thunder Bay, Canada.
Team USA finished the World Cup with a perfect 9-0 mark and has now won four consecutive 18U world championships. The World Cup title is the ninth overall for Team USA. The Americans also won gold in 1982, 1988, 1989, 1995, 1999, 2012, 2013, and 2015.
Seigler started the gold medal game at catcher and hit fifth in the Team USA batting order.
He finished the title game 1-for-2 with one RBI and a pair of walks before being lifted late.
U.S. starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore limited Korea to only four hits through the first six innings before giving way to Cole Wilcox (Chickamauga, GA), Mason Denaburg, and JT Ginn for one scoreless inning each to complete the shutout.
The U.S. pitching staff was overpowering in the tournament. The staff completed six shutouts in nine games played. U.S. hurlers finished the event with an 0.47 ERA in 77 innings and combined for 101 strikeouts. The staff limited opposing hitters to a .135 batting average.
Seigler started seven of the games for Team USA and finished the tournament 4-for-22 with four RBIs. He had one triple and scored three runs. He also reached base on seven walks for an on-base percentage just under .400. Defensively, he was charged with one error in 72 total chances for a .986 fielding percentage. He threw out both baserunner steal attempts against him.
Team USA’s Triston Casas was named Tournament MVP. He had a two-run homer and an RBI double in the gold medal game. He finished the tournament with 13 RBIs.
Ethan Hankins (Cumming, GA), Brice Turang, Mike Siani, and Alek Thomas were named to the All-World Team from the U.S. Brandon Dieter received an award for the best ERA in the tournament (0.00).
Seigler, 18, is an ambidextrous pitcher with Perfect Game recorded velocities in the low 90s from the right side and upper 80s from the left. The 5-11, 200-pounder is also a catcher for Cartersville High School and his travel team Evoshield Canes. He has skills to play multiple positions and is a switch hitter.
He played in the 2017 Perfect Game All-American Classic and has verbally committed to Auburn.
