2018 South American Championship

The 2018 South American Championship was the smallest yet in the 21st Century, dropping from six teams in 2016 to four this year as  Colombia (champion in 2015, third place in 2016) and  Peru (third place in 2015) did not return. That left only  Argentina,  Brazil,  Bolivia and  Chile. The tournament took place in April 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The winner got a spot in the 2019 Pan American Games.

April 14

•  Argentina 17,  Bolivia 0. The hosts start with an expected rout, as Federico Schultze and Agustín Tanco toss six no-hit innings, fanning nine and walking two, in a mercy rule win. 1B Mauro Schiavoni hits a 3-run homer and drives in five.

April 15

•  Argentina 3,  Brazil 2. The top two teams square off in a close match. Ezequiel Cufré, Miguel García and Federico Robles continue the solid pitching for Argentina. The team is down, 2-1, in the 5th, when Sebastián García doubles in Lucas Nakandakare and scores on singles by Mauricio Costa and Jacinto Cipriota.
•  Chile 4,  Bolivia 0. Jose Flores (6 IP) and Elio Quinones (1 1/3 IP) combine on a whitewash while James Sommerville raps two hits to lead Chile's offense to a win in their opener in a shortened game.

April 16

•  Brazil 20,  Bolivia 1. Ronald Quiroga drives in Limbert Lafuente in the first, but it's Bolivia's only run off Erick Kimura, who fans 7 in 5 innings in a mercy rule win. Jean Tome and Felipe Burin each drive in 3, while Ricardo Kirihara and Rafael Parra each score three times.
•  Argentina 9,  Chile 1. Diego Echeverria, Guido Monis and Lucas Ramon give Argentina their third straight pitching outing, overcoming three hits from James Sommerville. Sebastian Fontana scores 3 for the victors.

April 17

•  Brazil 12,  Chile 4. Felipe Burin hits a 3-run triple in the first and later adds a homer to power Brazil to a win; Alex Yun scores three times. Daniel Catalan scores twice in a losing cause.

April 18

•  Argentina 11,  Chile 1. Argentina again handles Chile easily. Rodrigo Bruera allows one run in six while Jacinto Cipriota has 3 hits, 2 runs and 2 RBI.
•  Brazil 18,  Bolivia 0. Erick Kimura goes 4 for 5 with two triples and four RBI while Jean Tome scores three times. Pedro Soares fans 10 and allows one hit in six innings for the win.

April 19

•  Brazil 8,  Argentina 6. Brazil wins the rematch with Argentina as both teams go to 4-1. Igor Januario blanks the home team for five innings while Lucas Ramón (2 R in 6 IP) is solid as well. In the 8th, Argentina jumps on Leonardo Oliveira and Rafael Parra for six runs to take a 6-2 lead, but in the bottom of the inning Brazil scores six of their own, with four doubles (by Felipe Tanaka, Tiago Magalhães, Alex Yun and Rodrigo Shindo). Keyne Kitayama locked it up for the save.
•  Chile 15,  Bolivia 5. Chile rides the bats of Daniel Catalan, Elio Quiñones and James Sommerville to their second win.

April 20

• Both games were cancelled due to rain

April 21

•  Argentina 7,  Brazil 1 for the Gold. For the first time, Argentina won a qualifier for the Pan American Games (they had twice appeared in baseball as hosts - in 1951 and 1995). Veteran knuckleballer Diego Echeverría tossed a gem, allowing only 5 hits and one run. Brazil countered with 19-year-old Igor Kimura, a future Rays farmhand against a former Rays farmhand. Jacinto Cipriota drove in the first two runs for Argentina, knocking in Sebastián García in the 3rd and doing so again in the 5th; Juan Martín then drove in Cipriota. Pedro Okuda drove in the lone run for Brazil in the bottom of the 5th. In the 9th, Argentina got insurance. Lucas Nakandakare singled off Jean Tomé and Agustín Tissera reached on a fielder's choice. With one out, Mauricio Costa got plunked. Cipriota again delivered, hitting into a run-scoring force; Tissera also scored on the play to make it 5-1. Eduardo Zurbriggen then cracked a two-run homer to end the scoring.

•  Chile vs.  Bolivia for the Bronze was rained out; Chile was awarded the Bronze based off their round-robin performance.

Also see 2018 South American Championship (Rosters)

Sources

• Beisbol Argentino
• World Baseball and Softball Confederation
• Chilean Baseball Federation