A win away from advancing on to the second round, Team sa国际传媒 was set to face Panama early this morning at the IBAF World Under-18 Baseball Championship in Seoul, South Korea.
Victoria's Jesse Hodges continues to shine as the lone B.C representative on the national junior team.
"He's doing well and we're all proud of him," said Mike Chewpoy, Hodges' coach with the Victoria Mariners.
"Hopefully, they can make it on to the medal round.
That'll be a tough test.
"It would be awesome if they medal. There are some serious powerhouses playing in that tournament. Players who go, always look back and say, 'Wow, I played against this guy and I played against that guy.'
"Major-league stars have played in this tournament and I know Jesse was totally pumped about going. The Dominican team, the Japanese team, the States - a lot of major guys have come out of this tournament."
sa国际传媒 was 3-1 heading into the early morning matchup against Panama (2-2) in Group B play. A win would guarantee a berth in the second round.
"We're right where we want to be," Canadian manager Greg Hamilton said in a Baseball sa国际传媒 statement. "If you said coming into the tournament that you could advance to the second round with a win in your last [Round 1] game, you'd take that.
"We're capable of beating any team in this tournament."
After four games, Hodges was leading the team in hitting with a .462 average. In 13 at bats he had six hits, including a pair of doubles and a home run, with three runs batted in and four runs scored.
Hodges' .462 average was 10th best overall heading into today's play.
The game against Panama was originally slated to be the tournament opener last week, but was postponed due to heavy rain.
The 12-team event is divided into two pools of six.
sa国际传媒 is coming off a fourth-place finish at the last World Championship held in Thunder Bay, Ont., in 2010. You have to go back to 2006 to find the last time sa国际传媒 managed to win a medal when Brett Lawrie and Phillippe Aumont led the country to bronze in Cuba.
sa国际传媒 is coming off a 3-2 win over the Czech Republic on Monday.
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