USA Baseball: Mineola Native This Close To Scoring Against Korea

MINEOLA, NY — It took a superhuman effort to gun down a diving Mineola native Xavier Edwards at the World Baseball Softball Confederation's Premier12 Super Round on Monday.

In a rematch of the 2015 Gold Medal game, USA Baseball squared off against Korea on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.

Edwards, a 20-year-old who was drafted 38th overall in 2018 by the San Diego Padres and currently plays for the minor league Lake Elsinore Storm, was one of 28 Americans named to the U.S. roster in October. He is the organization's 5th ranked prospect, according to MLB.com.

Despite collecting 13 hits Monday, No. 2 ranked USA fell to No. 3 Korea by a score of 5-1.

With two outs in the 8th inning, Edwards was called upon to pinch run for an injured Daulton Varsho. Jordan Adell immediately lined a single into right and Edwards, who can fly on the base paths, tried to score from second base. But a perfect throw from the right-fielder nailed Edwards at the plate, despite a textbook head-first slide.

The Premeir12 tournament runs from Monday to Saturday. The tournament represents Team USA's first chance to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

You can watch a clip of the play below. A broadcast of the entire game is available on Facebook.

Xavier Edwards out at the plate!

5-1 #Premier12 #ForGlory #KBO #프리미어12 pic.twitter.com/4wift2NQyl
— WBSC #Premier12 (@Premier12) November 11, 2019