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 »

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.

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.

The Olympic Baseball Tournament starts up this evening/early Saturday morning with a great game between Japan and Cuba that begins at 7 am Eastern time. The United States will open against South Korea, while the Canadian squad will play China, and Chinese Taipei will play the Netherlands. All the Games will be available online by clicking here. My brief preview of the Tournament is available below. I will be providing a daily recap of the day’s action throughout the tournament. Read the rest of this entry »

Article by Bob Elliott of the Canadian Baseball Network: Get to Know Team Canada

Excerpt: “Meet Mr. Average hitter for Team Canada: Emerson Frostad (Lewis-Clark State), 25, of Calgary Alta. A Texas Rangers farmhand, Frostad has split this season between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Oklahoma in the Texas Rangers system. He had played 486 games in five seasons. Read the rest of this entry »

Article by Bob Elliott in the London Free Press: Big expectations are off Canada’s plate

The article focuses on Mike Saunders of the Mariners organization, who plays for the Tacoma Rainiers of the AAA Pacific Coast League.

Stubby Clapp

Stubby Clapp, who will be playing second base for Canada in the 2008 Summer Olympics, is writing a blog about the experience. You can see it at canadianbaseballnetwork.com.

This will be Clapp’s second Olympics. He played for Texas Tech, and played 20 games for the Saint Louis Cardinals in 2001. He played for the AAA Memphis Redbirds for several years, and they retired his jersey. The last pro team he played for was the Edmonton Crackers Cats, which was in the independent Northern League at the time. He is currently on a leave of absence from the Class A Lexington Legends, where he is a hitting coach.

Alex White. Photo by Bob Broughton.

Team Canada, representing Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), defeated the Czech Republic, 3-1, at AVG Draci Brno Field, in Brno, CZ. Team Canada finishes the tournament 3-4, at the 4th annual World University Baseball Championships.

Team Canada won the 5th Place Consolation Game with strong pitching and a 3-run second inning. Mathew Wilson (Bucknell) continued to pitch strong for Head Coach Terry McKaig. Wilson, coming off his 8 strong innings against the United States where he allowed no earned runs and struck out 4 US hitters, pitched five shutout innings against the Czech Republic, striking out 6, while giving up one first inning single. The bullpen continued to impress all at the World University Championship as Adam Reynolds (Guelph), Scott Webster (British Columbia) and Kris Dabrowiecki (Northeastern) all pitched shutout relief innings, giving way to Team Canada’s closer Hiarali Garcia (Kansas) who gave up a walk and hit before settling down to record Canada’s first save at the tournament. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeff Vickers

Team Canada, representing Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), were defeated by Team Korea, 5-4, at Skokani-Olomouc Field, in Olomouc, CZ. Team Canada finishes the round robin, 2-4, at the 4th annual World University Baseball Championships and will face the host, Czech Republic, in Sunday’s 5th Place Game, at 1:00 PM (7:00 AM EDT).

Team Canada knew coming into the game they needed to win the game to force a three-way tie with Chinese Taipei and Korea and then let the tournament rules decide which two teams would advance to the Medal Rounds. The Canadians received word that the United States defeated Chinese Taipei, 3-2, in 11 innings, earlier in the afternoon, causing the potential three-way tie. Canada would need another strong start to keep their medal hopes alive, but it was Korea who had the first of two big innings in the game as they would score four runs in the second inning on two hits, an error and a bad bounce in the outfield that went over the left fielder’s head enabling three runs to score. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Hardy. Photo by Bob Broughton.

Team Canada, representing Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), defeated the Czech Republic, 4-0, at AVG Draci Brno Field, in Brno, CZ. Team Canada improves to 2-3 at the 4th annual World University Baseball Championships while the Czech Republic falls to 1-4.

Team Canada came into tonight’s game knowing they needed a victory to keep their medal hopes alive. That is exactly what the team did; they played a complete game pitching, hitting and defense to eliminate the host Czech Republic from advancing to the medal round and now with a 2-3 record they can concentrate on their one game showdown with Korea, who currently sport a 3-2 tournament record.

Again tonight the story was starting pitching. Veteran British Columbia LHP Mark Hardy of Campbell River, BC pitched the game of his life. The Sophomore Thunderbird struck out 15 Czech Republic batters, while walking none and giving up only three hits over 8 innings. “Mark gave us a big time performance tonight when we needed it most,” said Head Coach Terry McKaig. “Our starting pitching has come around and now won two key games for us, giving our bullpen the needed rest for tomorrow’s game against Korea.” Read the rest of this entry »