The eight quarterfinalists at the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup 2025 have been confirmed following the completion of an exhilarating round of pool play and Round of 16 matches on Thursday in Tepic, Mexico.
Kenya will be among those in the last eight following a successful group stage where they lost only once, to top ranked Cuba.
Kenya lost 2-0 to Cuba on the opening day, but bounced back to swat aside Korea 2-0 and Spain 2-1. They then beat Tunisia 2-0 to book their quarterfinal spot, where they will face home side Mexico later Friday evening.
With a record 14 teams participating with a new format, defending champions Cuba advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals in ominous form having scored 91 runs with 12 against in their four games to date. In their four games, they didn't manage to pass 10 runs in a set only twice.
World No. 1 Cuba beat the WBSC Refugee Team, who were representing Syria, making their first appearance in a WBSC World Cup - (16-1, 9-3) in the Round of 16. They are joined by world No. 2 Japan, who were nearly upset by No. 56 Puerto Rico in a thriller (3-2, 3-1), European champions Lithuania, who were too good for Spain (13-1, 6-4), and hosts Mexico, who beat Korea (3-2, 6-0) in another cliff hanger in the evening game.
The other games went the way of world No. 11 Kenya, who won the all-African clash with No. 5 Tunisia (8-5, 6-2), and No. 14 Türkiye, who beat No. 3 and last edition's silver medallists France (9-7, 11-9) reversing a tight three-set Super Round defeat to their European foes in the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup two years ago.
World No. 4 Chinese Taipei received a bye into the quarterfinals along with No. 7 Venezuela.
The eight quarterfinalists - Cuba, Kenya, Japan, Lithuania,, Mexico, Chinese Taipei, Türkiye, Venezuela - are the only teams remaining with a chance to advance to the semifinals, followed by the medal games. The remaining six teams will participate in the loser bracket.
While Cuba finished 1st, Mexico 3rd, Türkiye 4th and Chinese Taipei 6th two years ago, Kenya, Japan, Lithuania and Venezuela are participating in the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup for the first time.
The quarterfinals will start from 11 PM Kenyan time on Friday, along with the losers bracket where the teams which didn’t advance from the quarterfinals will also play, with Chinese Taipei taking on Japan in the first quarterfinal followed by Türkiye meeting Venezuela, the winners of each meeting in the afternoon semifinals. The afternoon quarterfinals see Cuba playing Lithuania followed by Mexico up against Kenya.
The medal games will take place La Loma Park on Saturday.