In an exciting few days of baseball played at the MCU Park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, Team Israel proved it’s a force to be reckoned with. The team stormed through its three games, giving up only three runs, to secure a place in Pool B of the WBC tournament next year in South Korea.
For seven players on the 28-man roster, this was true redemption, after Israel lost in the tenth inning of the final game of the 2012 qualifier. This time, the team was not going to let the win get away from them. With the determination of the veteran seven at the core of the team, all 28 players were fired up and ready to put Israel baseball firmly on the international baseball map. From the minute they donned their Israel Baseball kippot for the singing of Hatikvah before the start of the first game, they were ready to make history.
Game 1
In Game 1 against Great Britain, Team Israel seemed to be facing tough competition as the red, white and blues started with an early run off Israel starting pitcher Jason Marquis, the 15-year MLB veteran. Team Israel answered back with a double from Cody Decker of the Boston Red Sox organization, who advanced to third after a grounder to third by ex-New York Met Josh Satin. A grounder from outfielder Rhett Wiseman of the Washington Nationals organization, enabled the aggressive Decker to score after a wide throw from the Great Britain first base, tying the game at 1-1. Great Britain’s starting pitcher Michael Roth held Israel to one run for the six innings he pitched. The score was tied until the seventh inning, and Israel’s strong pitching showing kept Great Britain from scoring again until the top of the seventh. 
Wiseman led off the bottom of the seventh with a ground ball off reliever Vaughan Harris’ first pitch for a single. Next, short stop Scott Burcham of the Colorado Rockies organization, hit a line drive into the left-field corner for a double. Outfielder Mike Meyers’ sac fly to deep left enabled Wiseman to score for the tie at 2-2. A line drive from outfielder Zach Borenstein of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization brought Burcham home and gave Israel its first lead of the game at 3-2. Walking catcher Ryan Lavarnway, formerly of the Boston Red Sox, meant another pitching change. Still, Great Britain’s 19-year-old Nolan Bond also couldn’t come up with a solution for Israel’s aggressive offense. Former Mets and Yankees first baseman Ike Davis (pictured right) hit a single bringing in Meyers for a 4-2 score. Decker followed with a sac fly to deep left, driving in another run for a 5-2 lead.
Solid pitching from MLB veteran and former Miami Marlin Craig Breslow in the eighth halted Great Britain, giving him the win. Closer, White Sox Organization’s Brad Goldberg, retired three straight batters with the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning for the save.
Josh Zeid, who spent this past season with the Mets’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, struck out six batters over 3 2/3 innings. He was pitching in the final game of the 2012 WBC Qualifier when Israel lost to Spain, and he’s been focused on redemption ever since. “I feel like I let myself down last time,” said Zeid. “We won the first two games (in 2012), beat one team, and then we lost to the same team the last game. It was really disappointing. I worked the last three or four years to make sure that I was available to be in this tournament.”
Game 2
In the second day of the qualifier, Israel took on a highly regarded Brazilian team, managed by Hall of Famer Barry Larkin. A win would mean a direct ticket to the finals. Cardinals RHP Corey Baker and four relievers took care of business, shutting the Brazilians out and allowing only three hits.
Brazil’s 19-year-old RHP Bo Takahashi held Israel to one run on two hits and one walk over four innings, striking out five. Israel’s only run scored in the fourth, after a mighty double off the bat of the 2.03 m tall (6 feet 8 inches) Nate Freiman, formerly of the Oakland Athletics, flew into left field. This was followed by a grounder by Davis who reached first base on an error, allowing Freiman to advance to third. Decker followed with a sac fly, and Freiman scored, giving Israel the 1-0 lead.
Baker retired nine batters in a row at one stage of the game before being relieved by LHP Jared Lakind (pictured left) of the Pirates organization, who walked his first batter, but ended the inning with two strikeouts, stranding Brazil at first and third. Jeremy Bleich of the Phillies organization, came in to pitch in the seventh, and retired the side with just eight pitches, including two strike outs. Bleich started the eighth with a ground out to short stop and a strike out. After two Brazilian batters singled, Ryan Sherriff of the Cardinals organization, relieved Bleich. Brazilian pinch-hitter Reinaldo Sato grounded to third, where Decker’s quick reactions had him lunging towards a sliding Leonardo Reginatto, tagging him for the third out of the inning. Closer Goldberg threw a perfect ninth inning, saving the game for the second time in two days, and sending Team Israel directly to the final. 
Game 3 – the Final
“This is our time,” said an emotional Jerry Weinstein, Team Israel manager, to the team in the locker room before the final. And it was. With the specter of the unexpected 2012 loss in the final game looming over the players, they were hungry for the win and for the chance to capitalize on the second opportunity to make history.
It was an emotional day all round, one that started with news of the shocking death of Miami Marlins’ pitcher Jose Fernandez in a boating accident. A moment of silence at the pre-game ceremony marked this tragedy.
Marquis (pictured right), who had not pitched over the limit in Thursday’s game, allowing him to start the final under the WBC’s pitch count limitations, opened in impressive form and struck out five British batters over four perfect innings. Zeid relieved Marquis and pitched three scoreless innings for the win. 
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when Israel’s bats came alive. Burcham led off with a single off Britain’s starter Spencer Kreisberg. Reliever Ali Knowles then had to swallow the first over the fence home run of the tournament from Blake Gailen, batting 9th, which gave Israel a 2-0 lead. A walk for Borenstein (pictured left) led to another pitching change for Great Britain but to no avail. Catcher Ryan Lavarnway crushed the second homerun of the inning into the left-field scoreboard to bounce the score to 4-0.
In the sixth, an RBI triple from Borenstein took the score to 5-0. In the seventh, Decker, who had become a crowd favorite, especially after introducing the Mensch on a Bench to the Israeli bench in the first game, smashed a solo homerun over the left field wall for 6-0. Great Britain got its first hit of the game with two outs in the eighth, when a single to right by Albert Cartwright got past right fielder Borenstein and allowed him to advance to second. He then scored the team’s only run on a single by Chavez Young.
But Israel continued to pile on the runs in the bottom of the eighth. Gailen walked and Borenstein singled to right. A single from Lavarnway brought Gailen home for 7-1. A two-run double into the right field corner from DH Charlie Cutler sealed the game at 9-1.
Dean Kremer, the first-ever Israeli citizen to be drafted by a major league team, finished the game. Team Israel stormed the field, with the Mensch on a Bench held aloft, to celebrate making history by getting to the World Baseball Classic. 
"When I joined the team the first time around (in 2012), I didn't expect it to be what it became - an instant family,” said Decker. “It really ate away at a lot of us that we didn't come away with that victory. This has been exactly the same type of atmosphere, if not even better. This has been one of the best experiences I’ve had in professional baseball."
“Everyone (on the team) had a great time representing Israel, and being proud to be Jewish,” said Lavarnway. “It was really cool to see all the kids out there with yarmulkas on cheering for Jewish athletes. It’s not something you get the chance to see very often.”
Israel will play in Pool B of the WBC tournament at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea from March 7-10, 2017. The team will face the national teams of South Korea, Netherlands and Chinese Taipei.
About the WBC
The World Baseball Classic tournament, operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), has been held once every four years since 2005. The tournament features the top 16 baseball playing countries in the world. From 2013, four spots were opened to qualifiers, with each qualifier competing in a pool of four teams for a place in the main tournament. In the March 2013 tournament, the Dominican Republic defeated Puerto Rico in the final. The teams taking part in the 2017 tournament are: Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, USA and Venezuela. The other qualifiers were Australia, Colombia and Mexico.