{"id":539779,"date":"2026-03-14T10:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T10:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/539779\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T10:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T10:45:17","slug":"austin-wells-only-swing-of-the-bat-puts-the-dominicans-in-wbc-record-book-and-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/539779\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Wells’ only swing of the bat puts the Dominicans in WBC record book and semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI — MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Austin Wells’ only swing of the bat<\/a> put the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic record book and the semifinal round.<\/p>\n

Wells hit a game-ending three-run homer in the seventh inning Friday night that stopped the contest under a tournament rout rule as the Dominican Republic beat South Korea 10-0<\/a> to reach the WBC semis.<\/p>\n

Wells’ homer was the 14th for the Dominicans in the tournament, tying the tournament record set by Mexico in 2009. Wells, who also homered in a 12-1 pool victory over the Netherlands on Sunday, drove a first-pitch cutter from Hyeong Jun So off the front of the second deck in right.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to win today and be able to move to the next round was the goal,\u201d Wells said. \u201cBeing able to help out today and be part of it was a lot of fun. Definitely a special moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a lineup of stars including Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr, Wells has quickly adjusted to the team. And, when the star sluggers did their damage without the long ball against South Korea, it was Wells who went deep.<\/p>\n

The homer also tied Wells with Soto, Guerrero, Tatis, Junior Caminero and Oneil Cruz.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience has been incredible. It\u2019s been an unbelievable honor being able to represent my family and the country of the Dominican,\u201d said Wells, who was born in Arizona to a mother of Dominican descent. \u201cIt\u2019s something that I\u2019m never going to forget and hopefully I\u2019ll have the opportunity again.\u201d<\/p>\n

During its power barrage through the first four games, the Dominicans have displayed viral-worthy bat flips and exuberant group celebrations when they complete their trot around the bases. But, Wells has been more subdued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been one for big bat flips in my career,\u201d Wells said. \u201cI\u2019m taking notes. A lot of the times I just black out when I hit a home run. It\u2019s been hard for me to show some sort of emotion. Maybe next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dominicans reached the semifinal round for the first time since the tournament championship game in 2013. Now, they will have the opportunity to move past Mexico and claim the homer record as their own \u2014 and move a step closer to another title \u2014 when they face the United States on Sunday in Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something special for us because we are a very united team, compact team,\u201d Caminero said. \u201cYou can feel the emotion, the energy in the clubhouse. We work as a team. This is something very special to us. Now we have to focus on the next rival on Sunday, and to continue playing like we have been doing so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI — MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Austin Wells’ only swing of the bat put the Dominican Republic in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[267540,4225,64,63,591,267539,85],"class_list":["post-539779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-267540","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-snooker-and-billiards","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}