The Black Sox's dreams of winning an eighth world title on home soil have been crushed after a heartbreaking tiebreaker loss to Cuba in Auckland late tonight.
The equation for the match was simple - the winner would join Argentina and USA from Group A to advance to the Super Round while the loser would be sent to placement games, scrapping it out with other eliminated nations to come seventh at best.
In the end, it was the courageous Caribbeans who punched their ticket to the next round with a 1-0 win over the Black Sox - whose worst placing in their decorated history prior to this tournament was their fifth-place finish in 1968 - in a thriller that didn't finish until after 11pm.
The late ending was partly due to rain delays from the unpredictable Auckland weather earlier in the day but it was also due to the sensational pitching duel being played out between Kiwi ace Daniel Chapman and Cuba's 44-year-old hurler Alain Roman.
Chapman saved his best performance of the tournament for the game his team needed him most, taking 18 strikeouts for just three walks and three hits in nine innings of work.
The 25-year-old made the Cubans look silly at some points in the evening, threading off-speed pitches into his sets with ease to get hitters off balance before making them chase the ball out of the zone with an effective rise ball.
But for all Chapman's efforts the Black Sox bats couldn't find a punch to match their pitcher's, leaving 13 runners on base this evening without managing to push one across home plate.
The Black Sox had their chances too - their best came in the fifth innings when veteran third baseman Joel Evans ripped a double down the left field line with one out before advancing to third on a wild pitch from Roman.
But as he did time and time again throughout, Roman managed to fight his way out of the innings with pinpoint placement as he kept the ball inside on the Black Sox batters and forced weak groundouts to his infielders.
The Black Sox had another chance the following innings after loading the bases with two down but again Roman was able to get the out he needed to the dismay of the loyal Rosedale Park crowd still in attendance as twilight turned to night.
All the while, Chapman continued to dominate the Cuban sticks as he ended the regular period of the game striking out the side for the third time in the bottom of the seventh innings.
That sent the 0-0 ballgame to a tiebreaker, meaning a runner would be place on second base at the start of each half-innings from now on to help teams score and break the deadlock.
The Black Sox managed to get their runner to third base with one out on a sacrifice bunt from Thomas Enoka but a pair of strikeouts afterwards left them relying on Chapman to keep them in it again.
He did just that, conjuring a groundout to third base and two more strikeouts to keep his side in it as the game moved to the ninth innings.
The Black Sox bats failed once more and after Cuba managed to load the bags with none out in response, it proved to be too much and Yesander Rodriguez delivered the final blow - an RBI single up the middle of the field to send his side into a state of euphoria at home plate.
The loss means the Black Sox finish pool play with a record of 2-3 having also suffered losses to Argentina and USA earlier in the week.
They won't be alone in feeling disappointment as they head into the placement bracket of the tournament with World No.2 and 2019 runner-ups Japan also failing to make the Super Round in Auckland.
Japan lost to Australia in a tiebreaker 6-5 to start their downward trend before Venezuela stunned them 3-1 yesterday - a loss that meant they needed other results to help them out to have a chance but it all went out the window when they were blasted by tournament frontrunners Canada 9-2 this evening.
Joining the Black Sox and Japan in the placement round will be the Czech Republic, Philippines, South Africa and Denmark.
New Zealand 0 [Jerome Raemaki 0-1, 1 BB, 2 IBB / Daniel Chapman 8.0 IP, 18 Ks, 3 BB, 3 H, 1 ER, L]
Cuba 1 [Yesander Rodriguez 1-4, 1 RBI / Alain Roman 9.0 IP, 11 Ks, 6 BB, 3 H, 0 ER, W]
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