World Baseball Classic Day 7: USA, DR Clinch, Venezuela Pushed to Tiebreaker Game with Italy

While two teams punched their tickets to the second round, the runner-up spot in Pool D is still to be determined after a chock-filled day in the World Baseball Classic.

With wins from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, each team to finish atop their respective pools did so undefeated. Although Colombia put the Dominicans on the edge of their seats, they rallied under the extra-inning rules to win 10-3. Likewise, what began as a back-and-forth battle ended with Puerto Rico beating Italy 9-3 and wrapped up their pool-play sweep.

Italy might have lost and dropped to 1-2, but they can still reach the second round, thanks to Mexico upsetting Venezuela. Although a win would have automatically sent Venezuela to round two, by losing to Mexico they are forced to play a tiebreaker against Italy today at 6:00 p.m. PST.

Team USA found itself in a similar situation, where a loss could bring about either elimination or a tiebreaker. However, they secured their spot in the second round by shutting out Canada 8-0.

Prior to the pool action happening in North America, Japan continued the second round with an 8-6 victory over the Netherlands.