Roman Anthony stood at the plate, down in the count at one ball and two strikes with two outs, the letters USA blazoned across his jersey. Jaws locked grim and tight in his club’s dugout. Across the diamond, Team Venezuela flapped their arms, urging a raucous crowd to its feet. It wasn’t lost to either side or their supporters that less than three months earlier their nations were rivals in a different – geopolitical – power game.