MIAMI (WSVN) – Several Dominican Republic fans began flooding into loanDepot Park to watch their fellow countrymen take on Korea in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinal round.
Coming into Friday’s quarterfinal matchup, players and managers said being able to play the game for their country is a matter of passion, pride and pure joy.
“We enjoy the game, you know, we’re gonna show our emotions out there. This is our part of it, I think everybody wants to show the emotions that we play a kid’s game and we’re doing it at the highest level, representing our country, you know, it doesn’t get any better than that,” said Dominican Republic’s third baseman Manny Machado.
No team has embodied that degree of enthusiasm quite like the Dominican Republic’s fans in this year’s Classic, with roars shaking the stadium over the team’s explosive pool play where they launched 13 homers and scored 41 runs across four games.
The Dominican Republic’s manager Albert Pujols said that unreal energy reinforces why players take the opportunity to be part of the Classic, with an experience that has no comparison.
“Every time you wear these jerseys, it’s with a lot of honor and, you know, you wanna do the best to perform at this level. In the regular season, I don’t think you’re gonna find or see anything like what we’re doing here,” said Pujols.
Hours before either team could take the field, electric energy was running rampant through loanDepot Park, as scores of Dominican fans showed up in full force to support their squad.
Nayeli Almont, a Dominican Republic fan from New Jersey, said she came to see the game on a spur of the moment decision after watching their decisive win over Venezuela, Wednesday.
“We actually just flew in today from Jersey, we made plans yesterday, like, this was just impromptu because we watched the Venezuela and [Dominican Republic] game, we were so passionate, screaming in our living rooms and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we have to be there in person,’” said Almont.
As far as the eye could see, fans draped in the Dominican colors covered every open space surrounding the park, chanting, singing and waving flags in what felt more like a championship parade than the start of a major quarterfinals match.
“We just enjoy the game, we played since we were little and that’s what we love,” said Dominican fan Edison Ditren.
First pitch for the Dominican Republic and Korea is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
As for Friday’s other quarterfinal game, the United States will face Canada from Daikin Park in Houston. You can watch coverage for that game starting at 8 p.m. on Channel 7.
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