2016 Roswell Invaders at the World Baseball Challenge - A Remarkable Run to the Championship Game in British Columbia
The 2016 Roswell Invaders season did not end when their Pecos League playoff run was over. Instead, Roswell packed its equipment, traveled north to Prince George, British Columbia and entered one of the most unique tournaments any Pecos League team has ever played in. The Invaders represented the Pecos League in the 2016 World Baseball Challenge at Citizen Field, facing teams and players they ordinarily never would have encountered during a summer of independent professional baseball in New Mexico.
What followed became one of the most memorable stretches in Roswell Invaders history. Roswell played seven games in British Columbia and won five of them. The Invaders lost only twice, both times against Team Japan, and the second loss came in the championship game, where Roswell took Japan all the way to the bottom of the ninth inning before falling 5-4. The Invaders returned from Canada as the Silver Medalists of the 2016 World Baseball Challenge.
An Unexpected International Opportunity
Roswell did not begin the 2016 season expecting to finish its summer playing international baseball in British Columbia. The Invaders had already completed a full Pecos League schedule and postseason when the opportunity emerged to participate in the World Baseball Challenge. Instead of shutting things down for the year, manager Bryan Kloppe and the Invaders continued playing and brought a roster built for the Pecos League to Citizen Field in Prince George.
The tournament represented something much larger than another series of baseball games. Roswell was representing its franchise, its city and the Pecos League on an international stage against clubs assembled from very different baseball backgrounds. The Invaders quickly demonstrated that they belonged in the tournament and ultimately became one of the final two teams still playing.
Roswell Opens With an 8-5 Victory
Roswell opened the World Baseball Challenge on August 13 with an 8-5 victory. The Invaders immediately brought the offensive style that had defined their Pecos League season to British Columbia, hitting five home runs and using that power to begin the tournament with a victory. It was the ideal start for a team entering unfamiliar territory, and Roswell immediately established that its offense could produce against competition outside the Pecos League.
Japan Hands Roswell Its First Loss
The first major test came one day later against Team Japan. For the first three innings, Roswell looked capable of handing Japan a defeat. The Invaders scored three runs in the third inning and built a 3-0 lead, with Cody Bishop delivering an RBI single and Cody Coffman following with a two-run double.
Japan eventually changed the game. After scoring twice in the fifth, the Japanese club took control with four runs in the seventh and continued adding to its lead. Japan scored 11 unanswered runs after Roswell's early three-run rally and defeated the Invaders 11-3. It was Roswell's first loss of the tournament and provided the Invaders with their first look at the team that would ultimately stand between them and the championship. The official tournament schedule records the 11-3 result on August 14 at Citizen Field.
Roswell Responds With a 10-2 Victory
Roswell did not allow the loss to Japan to change the direction of its tournament. The Invaders came back the following afternoon and won 10-2. Mike Scimanico gave Roswell six strong innings on the mound, allowing only one earned run, while the Invaders produced 13 hits and drew 10 walks. Bobby Webb hit a two-run home run and Kaohu Gaspar added a home run of his own as Roswell steadily pulled away.
The victory put the Invaders back on track and established what would become the defining pattern of their tournament. Except when playing Japan, Roswell kept winning. The official schedule lists Roswell's 10-2 victory on August 15 at Citizen Field.
Roswell Rolls to an 11-1 Victory
Roswell's next game produced one of its most dominant performances of the tournament. The Invaders won 11-1 behind an overwhelming combination of power hitting and pitching. TJ Pruneda went the distance in the eight-inning victory, allowing five hits and no earned runs while walking nobody.
The Roswell offense hit four home runs. Bobby Webb homered twice and finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored, while Joey Miller and Morgan Blatnik also homered. Roswell finished with 15 hits and another lopsided victory. The Invaders were no longer simply an interesting Pecos League entry in an international tournament. They were becoming one of the teams capable of winning it.
Twelve More Runs in Roswell's Next Victory
Roswell's offense remained relentless in its next game, producing a 12-2 victory on August 17. The Invaders scored twice in the first inning and then exploded for six runs in the third to take complete control. Cody Bishop had one of his best games of the tournament, going 2-for-3 with a double, home run, three RBIs, three runs scored and two walks. Joey Miller went 3-for-4 and Bobby Webb drove in two more runs.
Alex Dandridge earned the victory with five innings on the mound before Nick Bozman and Rob Rizzitelli finished the game. Rizzitelli struck out all three hitters he faced in the seventh. Roswell had now won four games and lost only once, with that lone defeat remaining the 11-3 loss against Japan.
A Three-Run Deficit Turns Into Another Roswell Victory
Roswell's next game demonstrated that the Invaders could win in a completely different way. The Invaders trailed 3-0 through five innings and, for the first half of the game, could not generate enough offense to get back into it. Then everything changed. Roswell scored four runs in the sixth inning to take the lead, added another in the seventh and broke the game open with four more runs in the eighth.
Nine unanswered runs transformed a 3-0 deficit into a 9-3 Roswell victory. Bobby Webb went 3-for-5 and hit another home run, while Kyle Perez earned the victory after allowing only one earned run over five innings. Roswell was now 5-1 in the World Baseball Challenge. There was only one team it had not been able to beat: Japan. The Invaders were about to get one more opportunity.
Roswell and Japan Meet for the Championship
The World Baseball Challenge championship came down to Roswell and Japan. For the Invaders, it was an opportunity to complete one of the most unlikely extensions of a season in Pecos League history. Roswell had gone from completing its independent professional baseball schedule in New Mexico to standing one victory away from an international tournament championship in British Columbia.
Japan entered the championship game undefeated, and Roswell knew exactly how difficult the opponent would be after losing 11-3 in their first meeting. The championship game, however, would be nothing like that first matchup. This time Roswell pushed Japan to the absolute limit.
Japan scored twice in the bottom of the first inning against Roswell starter Darrell Thompson. For the next several innings, Japan starter Yamaoka Taisuke kept the Invaders off the scoreboard, but Roswell finally broke through in the fourth. With two outs, Nate Ferrell singled and Bobby Webb doubled him home. Kaohu Gaspar followed with a single that scored Webb and tied the game. Jim Smith then delivered the biggest swing of the night, blasting a two-run home run. Four consecutive two-out hits had completely changed the championship game and given Roswell a 4-2 lead.
Roswell Gets Within Six Outs of the Championship
Japan cut the lead to 4-3 in the sixth inning, but Roswell still carried its advantage into the late innings. Thompson worked 5 1/3 innings before Eric Gleese came out of the bullpen. Gleese escaped the sixth and worked through the seventh without allowing Japan to tie the game. Roswell entered the bottom of the eighth with a 4-3 lead and just six outs separating the Invaders from the World Baseball Challenge championship.
Japan finally tied the game in the eighth when Tanaka Shunta singled home Kunimoto Takeshi. Tyler Stirewald entered and prevented further damage, sending the championship game into the ninth inning tied 4-4. Roswell put Kaohu Gaspar aboard with a single in the top of the ninth but could not score, giving Japan an opportunity to win the championship in the bottom half.
Stirewald retired the first hitter before Hayashi Toshiyuki doubled. A walk put another runner aboard, but Stirewald responded with a strikeout for the second out. Another walk loaded the bases. Roswell was one out away from sending the championship game deeper into the night, but the deciding run scored on a passed ball. Hayashi came home from third and Team Japan won the championship 5-4. The official tournament record lists the August 20 championship result as Japan 5, Roswell 4.
Five Wins, Two Losses and a Silver Medal
Roswell finished the World Baseball Challenge with a 5-2 record. The Invaders won their first game 8-5, lost 11-3 to Japan, responded with victories of 10-2, 11-1, 12-2 and 9-3, and then lost the championship game 5-4 to Japan. The Invaders defeated every opponent they faced other than the eventual champions.
The difference between Roswell's two games against Japan also demonstrated how far the Invaders had come during the tournament. Japan won the first meeting decisively, scoring 11 unanswered runs after Roswell had taken an early 3-0 lead. When the teams met again for the championship, Roswell carried a 4-2 advantage into the sixth inning, remained ahead entering the eighth and ultimately lost by only one run in the bottom of the ninth.
Roswell Returns Home With Silver
There was no World Baseball Challenge championship trophy coming back to New Mexico, but there was a Silver Medal. The tournament's historical record identifies Team Japan as the 2016 World Baseball Challenge Gold Medalists and the Roswell Invaders as the Silver Medalists.
For the Roswell Invaders, the Silver Medal represented an extraordinary conclusion to an already long baseball season. The club had gone from playing its Pecos League schedule at Joe Bauman Field and throughout the Southwest to competing at Citizen Field against international opposition in British Columbia. Players who had spent the summer traveling around the Pecos League suddenly found themselves representing Roswell and the league in Canada.
And they did much more than simply participate. Roswell won five of seven games, reached the championship game and pushed an undefeated Japanese team to the bottom of the ninth inning before finally being eliminated. The Invaders demonstrated that a Pecos League team could step outside its normal schedule and compete successfully against teams assembled from entirely different baseball systems.
The 2016 World Baseball Challenge remains one of the most unusual and significant chapters in Roswell Invaders history. The Invaders went to British Columbia representing independent professional baseball from New Mexico and returned home as the 2016 World Baseball Challenge Silver Medalists.
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