Joan Delgado Walk-Off Sends Unbeaten Venezuela to U-23 World Cup Final

Joan Delgado drove a bases-loaded single into center field in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving unbeaten Venezuela an 8-7 walk-off victory over Puerto Rico on Friday and a place in the 2026 WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup final.

Diego González scored the winning run at Estadio Nacional Soberanía in Managua after a game that swung repeatedly between two of the tournament’s strongest teams. Venezuela improved to 4-0 in the Super Round and secured home-team status in Sunday’s championship game with one round-robin fixture still to play.

Venezuela answers Puerto Rico’s opening run

Puerto Rico struck first when Juan Cruz singled home Harold Laracuente in the top of the first. Venezuela’s response was immediate and forceful.

Lewis Castillo and Johnfrank Salazar hit consecutive singles, with Salazar bringing Delgado home to tie the game. Giovanny Rivero followed with an RBI double, González added a run-scoring single and Rivero stole home to complete a four-run inning.

The 4-1 lead disappeared in the second. Puerto Rico scored on a wild pitch before Eldred George’s two-run single pulled the teams level at 4-4.

Venezuela regained control in the fifth. Brailyn Antúnez delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded, and Jesús Castillo added an infield hit that scored Rivero for a 7-4 advantage.

Puerto Rico forces extra innings

Puerto Rico answered again in the sixth. Cruz brought in one run on a groundout, and Yamvier Carrero doubled home two more to make it 7-7. Neither team scored in the seventh, sending the seven-inning contest into the international tiebreaker.

Venezuela’s defense produced the critical sequence in the top of the eighth. With two runners placed on base, the defense erased the lead runner at third on an attempted sacrifice bunt. A line drive to third then became a double play at second, ending the inning without a run.

González began the bottom half at second under the tiebreaker rule. Luis Caicuto’s sacrifice bunt moved the runners forward, Puerto Rico intentionally walked Jesús Castillo to load the bases and Delgado attacked the first pitch from Yandiel Reyes.

His drive into center brought González home and started Venezuela’s celebration around second base. Delgado finished 1-for-4, with his only hit delivering the tournament’s biggest run to date.

Unbeaten Venezuela clinches the final

Albert Rivas earned the win after working a scoreless top of the eighth. Reyes took the loss for Puerto Rico.

Venezuela has won all seven games it has played in Nicaragua and is the tournament’s only unbeaten team. The win also guarantees Néstor Corredor’s club a place in Sunday’s world championship final before it closes the Super Round against Chinese Taipei on Saturday.

The final will give Venezuela an opportunity to reclaim the U-23 world title it won in 2021. Puerto Rico, meanwhile, must recover from the walk-off defeat as the remaining Super Round results determine the other medal-game places.