Team Israel, playing its first game in the World Baseball Classic on Sunday, rallied late to defeat Nicaragua by a score of 3-1 at loanDepot Park in Miami.
After being held scoreless by four Nicaraguan pitchers through seven innings, Israel rallied in the eighth inning off Nicaragua”s best reliever, New York Yankees reliever Jonathan Lo&aacuteisiga.
Israel got terrific pitching of its own, limiting Nicaragua to one run, led by starter Dean Kremer of the Baltimore Orioles, who pitched four scoreless innings.
The Israeli side had plenty of chances to get the big hit earlier in the game. Its biggest chance came in the sixth inning when Danny Valencia came up as a pinch hitter with one out and the bases loaded. Valencia, however, grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The eighth inning rally began when Toronto Blue Jays prospect Spencer Horwitz hit a one-out RBI single to tie the game at 1. Three batters later, Garrett Stubbs of the Philadelphia Phillies hit a two-RBI double which stood as the game-winning hit.
With the win, Team Israel is now 1-0 in pool play while Nicaragua dropped to 0-2, after also losing its opener to Puerto Rico on Saturday.
Israel will face Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela over the next three days and will be heavy underdogs in each of those games, but Horwitz was unfazed by that, telling MLB.com on Sunday, “Nobody is really giving us a shot in this pool. We”re gonna go out there and give it everything we can. We”re going to compete and wherever the balls land, they land.”
Team Israel manager Ian Kinsler, when asked what enabled his team to get to Nicaragua”s best pitcher, replied, “I have no idea what happened. That”s what I expect from my team, to play all 27 outs and fight until the end. Today we were lucky enough to be on the right side.”

On his team”s chances in this very difficult pool, Kinsler told MLB.com, “We have just as good of a shot as anybody. We”re going to give it our best shot and try to make things interesting in Pool D.”
Israel was considered a Cinderella story in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, advancing from the first round after sweeping its first three games, before falling in the second round.