The Albany Gazette - Dominicans advance to World Baseball Classic semis

Wells blasted the only pitch he saw from South Korea's So Hyeong-jun over the right-field wall for a three-run homer with two outs in the seventh inning to give the Dominicans the victory under the blowout rule -- which ends a game early if a team leads by 10 runs after seven innings.

The Dominicans, who boast the Classic's most powerful scoring attack, will face either Canada or the United States in Sunday's semi-final at Miami.

The Americans and Canadians met in a later quarter-final at Houston, extending a rivalry that saw US men's and women's ice hockey teams beat Canada in last month's Winter Olympic finals.

Dominican Republic boasts a Major League Baseball lineup of sluggers and pitchers that surged ahead early against a squad of young talent from the South Korean league.

The Dominicans grabbed a 3-0 in the second inning. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked and scored on a double by Junior Caminero, who later scored on a Julio Rodriguez ground out. Agustin Ramirez walked, took second on Geraldo Perdomo's single and scored on a Fernando Tatis single.

In the third, Juan Soto singled and scored on Guerrero's double to centerfield, evading a tag attempt at the plate. Guerrero took third and scored on a Manny Machado single.

After a Caminero single, walks to Perdomo, Tatis and Ketel Marte forced in two more Dominican runs for a 7-0 edge, setting the stage for the deciding blast by Wells.

Saturday's quarter-final games find unbeaten Italy facing Puerto Rico at Houston and Venezuela playing undefeated Japan in Miami.

Those winners will meet in Monday's semi-final at Miami, where the championship game is scheduled for Tuesday night.

(A.Moore--TAG)