FROM TEAM USA RELEASE

(PRINCE GEORGE, British Columbia) – Andy Wilkins hit an RBI triple in second inning and Gerrit Cole (UCLA) pitched a complete game two-hitter as Team USA beat Canada, 1-0, at the 2009 Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline World Baseball Challenge at Prince George Citizen Field.

Yasmani Grandal (Miami) hit a single to right field with two outs and Wilkins followed with an RBI triple off of the scoreboard in left center to put the U.S. (18-5; 5-1) up 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning.

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FROM USA BASEBALL

Christian Colon (Courtesy of USA Baseball)

(PRINCE GEORGE, British Columbia) – Christian Colon (Cal State Fullerton) and Yasmani Grandal (Miami) hit a home run each and Team USA opened the 2009 Enbridge Northern Pipeline World Baseball Challenge with a 5-2 victory over Canada at Citizen Stadium.

Christian Colon (Cal State Fullerton) hit a solo home run over the wall in left field in the first inning to put the U.S. up front early, 1-0.
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Team USA continues their international baseball tour tonight against Team Canada in the World Baseball Challenge in Prince George, British Columbia. Team USA is coming off a five game series where they lost three out of the five games against the Japanese Collegiate Team. Read the rest of this entry »

AJ Morris (Courtesy of K-State Media Relations)

Here are some of the best links from Around the Country for July 8th.

The first article comes from The Advocate in Baton Rouge which talks about LSU head coach Paul Mainieri’s future plans. Randy Rosetta states that LSU needs to relax on Mainieri if they want to keep him long term due to the short life span of Smoke Laval in the past. LSU fans are very fickle so you are expected to win national titles in a year in and year out basis. Read the rest of this entry »

Terry Puhl

Terry Puhl, Field Manager of Canada’s entry in the 2008 Olympics, was a Major League outfielder for 15 seasons with the Houston Astros and the Kansas City Royals. He was a National League All Star in 1978 and played in the 1980 National League Championship Series vs. Philadelphia, setting a then-NLCS record with a .526 batting average. He holds the Major League record for career fielding percentage (.993).

Puhl’s day job is Coach of the University of Houston-Victoria Jaguars, an NAIA program entering its second year. He gave this interview on his way home from Beijing.

Bob Broughton, The College Baseball Blog: Do you think that baseball should be an Olympic sport? Read the rest of this entry »

Canada lost to Chinese Taipei 6-5, in 12 innings.

Chinese Taipei led 5-3 after two innings. Canada got one back in the fourth when Adam Stern (Nebraska) hit a triple, and came in on a ground out by Emmanuel Garcia. They tied the game in the seventh on a home run by Stubby Clapp (Texas Tech).

Because the game went more than ten innings, a special Olympic rule came into effect. In the 11th and 12th innings, both teams started the inning with runners on first and second, and no outs. Chinese Taipei got the winning run when the the first batter of the 12th inning, Chih-Hsien Chiang, hit a single to bring in the baserunner planted on second.

All five of Canada’s losses were by one run. Story from CBC: Canada drops another close game in Olympic baseball.

Brooks McNiven

Team Canada got brilliant pitching performances from Brooks McNiven (British Columbia), Jonathan Lockwood (Louisiana Tech), Rheal Cormier, and Tim Burton. They held The Netherlands to two hits, and got a 4-0 win.

McNiven, the starter, went six innings, and didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning. The Netherlands’ only other hit came off Burton in the ninth, but Burton struck out the other three batters he faced. Read the rest of this entry »

This time, it was a 1-0 loss to Japan. Yoshihisa Naruse, Kyuji Fujikawa, and Koji Uehara combined to hold Canada to two hits. The only run of the game was a home run by Atsunori Inaba in the fifth inning.

Story from the Toronto Star: Canada’s Olympic baseball hopes fade after 1-0 loss

Brian Duensing

The starters are James Avery (Niagara) for Canada, Brett Anderson for USA.

Canada leads 1-0 after one inning.Canada’s run came on an RBI double by Emerson Frostad (Lewis-Clark State).

8:15 PM PDT: Canada leads 3-0 after two innings. Emmanuel Garcia hit an RBI triple, then scored on a ground out by Michael Saunders.

8:35 PM: Canada leads 4-0 after three innings, and they are hitting Anderson at will. The fourth run came from an RBI single by Adam Stern (Nebraska). Great defensive play by Stubby Clapp (Texas Tech) at second base in the bottom of the third.

9 PM: Canada leads 4-2 after four innings. USA got on the board with a home run by Brian Barden (Oregon State), got the second run on an RBI single by John Gall (Stanford). Avery was replaced by R.J. Swindle (Charleston Southern). Read the rest of this entry »

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 »