Keunwoo Jeong

Canada out-hit Korea 5-3, but the only run of the game came on a home run by Keunwoo Jeong in the top of the third, off Canadian starter Mike Johnson.

Hyunjin Ryu pitched a complete game for Korea, struck out six, walked three. Johnson went six innings, allowed all three of Korea’s hits. David Davidson and Tim Burton were Canada’s relievers.

Canada’s best chance to score came in the bottom of the ninth. Mike Saunders opened the inning with a hit, and was on third with one out after Nick Weglarz got a hit. Brett Lawrie flied out. Matt Rogelstad (Arkansas State) drew a walk, loading the bases and and moving Weglarz, the potential winning run, to second. Ryan Radmanovich (Pepperdine) flied out to end the game with the bases loaded. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM TEAM USA RELEASE
BEIJING — Playing for the first time under the new extra-innings rule for Olympic competition, Cuba scored twice in the top of the 11th inning with the U.S. only able to plate one run in the bottom half, giving Cuba a 5-4 victory over the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team on Friday afternoon at the Wukesong Main Field. Read the rest of this entry »

The USA Olympic Baseball team takes on Cuba tonight at 11:30 pm Eastern time. The game can be watched online for free by clicking here.

Trevor Cahill will take the ball for the US team and Cuba will send Luis Miguel Rodriguez.

UPDATE #1: Cuba and Team USA is tied at 2 in the bottom of the sixth inning.

UPDATE #2: Cuba and USA start the tenth inning tied at 3. Cuba’s Bell hit a leadoff triple to center field to start the inning off well. Kevin Jepsen is able to get the next two batters to strikeout and then gets the final batter of the inning to ground out to third base. Team USA is coming up to bat right now.

UPDATE #3: Taylor Teagarden gets hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the tenth off well for Team USA. Jason Donald lays a bunt down to get Teagarden to second with one out. Cuba gets the next two guys to pop up. We are off to the 11th inning. This is going to be the first time the new rules of having two runners on base to start the inning is in effect.

UPDATE #4: Cuba scores two runs in the top of the 11th while USA only scores one in the bottom of the 11th so the Cubans stay undefeated while USA drops to 1-2 in the tourney.

A FULL RECAP WILL BE UP TOMORROW

The Japanese Olympic Team used a four run ninth inning to break open a one run game and put the Japanese squad at 2-0 in the tourney. The Japanese squad was led by Hiroyuki Nakajima who went 2-3 with 2 RBI and a run scored. Cheng-Min Peng led the Taipei team by going 2-4 with a run scored. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM USA BASEBALL

Matt Laporta

BEIJING — Steven Strasburg (San Diego, Calif.) hurled seven scoreless innings and did not allow a hit until the seventh inning as the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team bounced back with a 7-0 victory over the Netherlands on Thursday afternoon at Wukesong Field 2. Read the rest of this entry »

Canada took a 5-3 lead in the top of the sixth on a two-run home run by Nick Weglarz, which chased Cuban starter Adiel Palma. Cuba responded with four runs in the bottom of the sixth, on two-run home runs by Alexander Malleta and Alfredo Despaigne. Canada got one back in the eighth when Weglarz came in when Brett Lawrie hit into a fielder’s choice, but they went three up, three down in the ninth to end the game.

Canada missed an excellent chance to take the early lead in the second. Scott Thorman opened the inning with a single, went to second on a wild pitch, and to third on a single by Weglarz. The next batter, Jimmy Van Ostrand, hit a ground ball, and Thorman got caught between third and home. Weglarz and Van Ostrand moved to second and third on another wild pitch by Palma, and Canada had runners at second and third with one out. However, Matt Rogelstad (Arkansas State) struck out, and Chris Robinson (Illinois) was out on a dangerous ground ball to end the inning.

Starter Brooks McNiven (British Columbia) lasted only two innings. He gave up three runs (one of them unearned) in the second, and the Cubans were generally hitting the ball hard against him. Canada used four pitchers the rest of the way, Jonathan Lockwood (Louisiana Tech), Chris Reistma, Robert Swindle (Charleston Southern), and Steve Green (Fort Scout CC).

Weglarz hit another home run in the fourth, and finished the game 4-4.

Canada’s next game is against Korea, at 6 AM EDT on Friday.

Team USA is up 1-0 in the fourth inning against the Netherlands right now. Stephen Strasburg has been lights out in the first three innings. The webcast is available by clicking here.

UPDATE #1: Laporta hits a big home run as USA puts four runs on the board and Strasburg sends them down 1,2,3 as USA leads 5-0.

UPDATE #2: Strasburg has his perfect game broken up with a walk but has a no-hitter going. 5-0 after 5 innings.

UPDATE #3: Strasburg’s no hit bid is broken up in the seventh inning. Team USA is up 6-0 heading into the 8th inning.

UPDATE #4: Rain Delay in the 8th inning.

Alfredo Despaigne

The defending Olympic champion Cuba picked up a 4-2 victory over Japan to open up their 2008 Olympics. The Cuban team was led by Alfredo Despaigne who went 3-4 with three RBI while Alexei Bell went 2-4 with two RBI. Norge Luis Vera started the game where he went six innings allowing two runs and seven hits. Pedro Luis Lazo pitched the final three innings allowing two hits to pick up the save. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM USA BASEBALL RELEASE

BEIJING — Korea scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to rally and defeat Team USA, 8-7, in the Olympic opener on Wednesday evening at Wukesong Field 2.

Team USA had fought back with three runs of its own in the top of the ninth inning to take a one-run, lead but the Koreans mounted their own comeback, highlighted by a sacrifice fly from Jongwook Lee to earn the victory. The U.S. returns to action on Thursday morning to face the Netherlands with first pitch set for 10:30 a.m. local time (10:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, EDT). Read the rest of this entry »

The USA Olympic Baseball team will be taking on South Korea at 6 am this morning while the Japanese squad will take on Cuba at 7 am. (All Times are Eastern). The video is available by clicking here and looking for the link to the live video streams is available somewhere on those pages.

The Chinese Taipei baseball squad opened up Olympic Play on Wednesday with a 5-0 victory over the Netherlands. They received a great start from Wei-Yan Chen who pitched seven shutout innings while only allowing three hits and striking out seven batters without allowing a run . Kai-Wen Cheng pitched the final two innings where he allowed one hit and a single walk. The offensive star for Taipei was rightfielder Chieh-Ming Chang who went two for three with two RBI on the evening. Read the rest of this entry »

Canada got a methodical 10-0 win in a game shortened to eight innings by the mercy rule.

Canada got all the runs they needed on a three-run home run by 1B Scott Thorman in the fourth inning. The required runs for the mercy rule came on a two-run home run in the eighth inning by RF Mike Saunders.

Chris Begg (Niagara), Tim Burton, and Rheal Cormier (CC of Rhode Island) combined for the shutout. The Chinese had a chance in the bottom of the eighth to break up the shutout and extend the game into the ninth inning; runners on second and third with no outs. However, Cormier, after giving up a double to the first batter he faced, got three straight strikeouts to end the game.

Canada’s next game is against Cuba, at 6 AM EDT on Thursday.

Update: Brooks McNiven (British Columbia) gets the start against Cuba. Mike Johnson will start against South Korea on Friday, and James Avery (Niagara) starts against the USA on Saturday.