Early Sunday morning, while most of America was asleep, Aiden Ruiz and Team USA put the finishing touches on a 2-0 victory over host Japan, clinching the World Baseball Confederation 2025 U-18 World Cup.
After the U.S. took a 1-0 lead in the 4th inning, Ruiz drew a walk then doubled the advantage when he dashed home on a sac fly. Ruiz finished the World Cup as the tournament hits leader with 11 to go along with a .379 batting average, but it was his glove that made the greatest impact in the gold medal game.
In the 3rd inning with the game still deadlocked at 0-0, Shintaro Sakamoto drew a leadoff walk before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt. At that pivotal moment, with a sold-out crowd of nearly 17,000 cheering in Okinawa Cellular Stadium, Ruiz made the defensive play of the tournament by spearing a line drive up the middle and diving to tag second base, doubling up Sakamoto to end the early threat.
From there, the Team USA pitching staff, which maintained a 0.57 ERA during the tournament, completed the shutout to secure the Americans’ 11th U-18 World Cup title, tied for the most in history.
Ruiz’s heroics in helping to secure gold for the U.S. earned him a place on the All-World Team.