2010 World University Championship

The 2010 World University Championship was the fifth World University Championship. It was held from July 30 through August 7 at four different stadiums in Japan. Cuba won its second Gold, ending a run of three straight by the USA, though Cuba used several players who had graduated college, whereas the USA only used underclassmen. Cuba's Alfredo Despaigne was named MVP.

July 30

• Canada 3, Taiwan 2. Hung-Cheng Lai (National Taiwan Sport University) tosses 5 1/3 shutout relief innings but it's too late as Canada had put the game away by the time Lai entered. Sheldon McDonald (University of British Columbia) allows one run in eight for the win.

• USA 15, Sri Lanka 0. Vanderbilt's Sonny Gray fans 14 batters in a game that only lasted five innings due to the mercy rule; he allowed one hit. CF Mikie Mahtook (LSU) went 3 for 3 with 3 RBI.

• Japan 4, South Korea 0. RF Hayato Ito (Keio University) and DH Shota Ishimine (Tokai University) hit 2-run homers while Waseda's Yuki Saito and two relievers combine on a shutout.

July 31

• Cuba 18, South Korea 0. LF Yoennis Cespedes homers twice and goes 4 for 4 with six RBI in a rout, while Yadier Pedroso tossed a two-hit shutout.

• Canada 18, Sri Lanka 0. Canada scored twelve in the third in the blowout win. Brandon Kaye (University of British Columbia) gets the win while CF Greg Wallace (University of Evansville) drives in six.

• Japan 15, China 0. Three Japanese hurlers combine on a one-hit shutout in the third rout of the game, the lowest scoring of the trio with "only" a 15-run margin of victory. Six Japanese hitters get multiple hits, with RF Hayato Ito (Keio University) cracking his second homer of the Championship.

August 1

• Cuba 12, Japan 7. Cuban batters slug four home runs to send the home team to its first loss in a game at Meiji-Jingu Stadium. 3B Aledmis Diaz goes 4 for 5 with 3 RBI and one of the homers.

• South Korea 13, China 4. SS Bon-ki Shin (Donga University) drives in four as Korea gets its first runs and its first win.

• USA 8, Taiwan 7. The US and Taiwan engaged in the closest game yet of the tournament. Taiwan scored in the first, the US got two in the second, Taiwan tied it in the third, then took a 4-2 lead in the 7th, but the US went up 5-4 in the bottom of the inning. Taiwan reclaimed the lead, 6-5, in the 9th, only to have the US score in the bottom of the inning. Both teams got one run in the tenth but only the US scored in the 11th. Vanderbilt 3B Jason Esposita was 3 for 3 while Brian Johnson (University of Florida) got the win in relief. For Taiwan, CF Yin-Lun Lan (Kao Yuan University) was 3 for 4 with two RBI in the loss.

August 2

• Taiwan 16, Sri Lanka 0. Chuang-Jun Liao (National Chiayi University) and Hao-Chun Chiu (Chinese Culture University) combine on a one-hit shutout while Taiwan scores 12 times in the first. 1B Chih-Pei Huang (National Taiwan Sports University) drives in five for the winners.

• USA 8, Canada 1. Connecticut's Matt Barnes gives up three hits and no runs in seven in cruising to victory, while DH Noe Ramirez (Cal State Fullerton) homers and drives in three.

• Cuba 15, China 0. RF Yoennis Cespedes doubles, homers and drives in five as Cuba coasts to a win, needing only four innings to score enough runs for the mercy rule rout. Four hurlers only allow three hits between them.

August 3

• USA 11, China 0. LSU's Mikie Mahtook homers and droves in three from the #9 slot while Tyler Anderson (Oregon) and Kyle Winkler (Texas Christian University) combine on a 3-hit shutout.

• South Korea 7, Canada 4. Korea University right-hander Chi-young Lim allows one run in 5 2/3 relief innings Korea rallies to win. CF Jong-wook Ko (Hanyang) goes 3 for 4. Canadian pitchers issue eight walks.

August 4

• Cuba 14, Sri Lanka 0. Alfredo Despaigne goes 3 for 5 with 3 RBI, but the big story is Dalier Hinojosa, who fans 16 of 21 batters in throwing a 7-inning perfect game.

• Japan 13, Taiwan 0. Tokai University's Tomoyuki Sugano and two relievers combine to shut down Taiwan, while college teammate CF Shota Ishimine goes 5 for 5 with 3 RBI.

• Canada 14, China 3. 1B Garrett Regan (Oklahoma City University) doubles twice, homers and drives in five. Eric Brown (University of British Columbia} gets the win.

August 5

• Cuba 11, South Korea 1. Cuba moves to the finals as 1B Jose Dariel Abreu triples, homers twice and drives in five while LF Alfredo Despaigne goes 4 for 5 with a double, homer and 3 RBI. Yadier Pedroso gets another win.

• USA 4, Japan 2. Yuki Saito (Waseda) and two relievers hold the US to four hits, but one of them is a first-inning grand slam by LF George Springer (Connecticut). Sonny Gray (Vanderbilt) and Noe Ramirez (Cal State Fullerton) pitch even better, allowing only three hits and two runs to win a well-pitched game and move to the finals.

• Taiwan 21, Sri Lanka 0. In just four innings on offense, Taiwan bangs out 19 hits and scores 21 runs. LF Yi-Kun Huang (National Taiwan College of Physical Education) drives in six and homers twice. Sri Lanka gets just a single hit.

August 6

• 5th/6th place game: Canada 15, Taiwan 14. In a back-and-forth slugfest, the two clubs combined for 36 hits, ten of them for extra bases. Taiwan was up 4-2 after two, then Canada led 13-6 by the seventh-inning stretch. Taiwan rallied to tie it at 13 by the end of regulation before Canada won in the 10th inning. DH Kuan-Wei Yang (Chinese Culture University) went 3 for 5 with a homer and 5 RBI for the losers. Cleanup hitter and 3B Mark Ellis (University of Southern Mississippi) was Canada's big threat, going 4 for 5 with a double and 5 RBI. While Canada matched its 2008 finish, Taiwan had fallen from two straight medal finishes to 6th.

• 7th/8th place game: China 10, Sri Lanka 0. East China University of Political Science and Law's Shi Dong strikes out eight as China wins its only game. SS Xiaochen Zhang (East China University of Political Science and Law) goes 2 for 3 with two walks and a homer.

August 7

• Gold Medal Game: Cuba 4, USA 3. As in 2002, Cuba and the USA met in the finals and again Cuba won it all, ending the USA's run of three straight titles. UCLA's Gerrit Cole and Cuba's Miguel A. González traded goose eggs for seven innings. In the 8th, Noe Ramirez (Cal State Fullerton) relieved and gave up a homer to LF Alfredo Despaigne. In the bottom of the eighth, the US rallied to tie. The US scored two runs in the top of the 10th to take their first lead. In the bottom of the 10th, Nick Ramirez (Cal State Fullerton) served up a 3-run homer to Despaigne to end it.

• Bronze Medal Game: Japan 9, South Korea 0. Takahiro Fujioka (Toyo University) and four relievers combine on a 4-hit, 15-strikeout in front of 3,500 home fans. Keio University RF Hayato Ito hit a 2-run homer in the first to start the rout. Sung-bum Na (Yonsei University) was the losing pitcher but would go on to a brighter career as a hitter.

Awards

• Most Valuable Player: Alfredo Despaigne, Cuba
• Outstanding Defensive Player: Drew Maggi, USA

All-Star Team

• C: Frank Morejon, Cuba
• 1B: Jose Dariel Abreu, Cuba
• 2B: Chad Marshall, Canada
• SS: Yorbis Borroto, Cuba
• 3B: Wei-Chih Chen, Taiwan
• OF: Yoennis Cespedes, Cuba
• OF: Mikie Mahtook, USA
• OF: Shota Ishimine, Japan
• DH: Ryan Wright, USA
• SP: Miguel A. González, Cuba
• RP: Tatsuya Oishi, Japan