Showing posts tagged “Andy Wilkins”

Cole turns in a gem as USA Baseball reaches championship game

Mike Potter · 25 Jul 2009, 1:16 AM · Comment


usacole1Gerrit Cole (pictured) delivered the goods just when USA Baseball’s National Team needed it.

The big right-hander out of UCLA fired a two-hitter late Friday night, leading his team to a 1-0 victory over Canada and a berth in Sunday’s championship game of the World Baseball Challenge in Prince George, B.C.

The USA, which finished with only three hits of its own, got its run in the bottom of the second. Miami’s Yasmani Grandal hit a two-out single, and then scored on a triple from Arkansas’ Andy Wilkins.

Cole struck out seven, walking one batter and hitting two and never allowing a runner to reach third. He struck out the side in the ninth inning.

Jordan Rawlyk pitched four innings for Canada while Eric Brown fired the last four.

The game was marred by an incident in the eighth inning, when the Canucks’ Nic Lendvoy slid hard into Cal State-Fullerton’s Christian Colon during the shortstop’s successful turn of a 5-6-3 double play. The benches cleared, albeit with no punches thrown, and Team USA declined to participate in a post-game handshake line with Colon still on a stretcher and undergoing treatment.

The title game is Sunday at 7 p.m. (EDT) with Ole Miss’ Drew Pomeranz expected to pitch for the USA in the team’s final game of the season. The other team in the final will be determined Saturday, when Germany and British Columbia square off for the right to play Canada for the title-game berth.

ACC, Baseball, USA Baseball , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

USA Baseball wins third straight to gain top seed

Mike Potter · 23 Jul 2009, 10:41 PM · Comment


usabrent1Now they’re on a roll again.

USA Baseball’s National Team won its third straight game, walloping British Columbia 12-2 in a contest stopped by the mercy rule after eight innings, to earn the top seed for the medal round of the World Baseball Challenge in Prince George, B.C.

Rice’s Rick Hague, Middle Tennessee’s Bryce Brentz (pictured) and Texas-Arlington’s Michael Choice each homered during the big fifth-inning rally for the Red, White and Blue.

B.C. took a 2-0 lead off Cody Wheeler of Coastal Carolina as Devon Franklin hit a solo shot in the first and Mike Collins added another in the fourth.

The USA, batting in the bottom of each frame, evened the score in the fourth on an RBI double from Arkansas’ Andy Wilkins and a wild pitch by Corey Parsons.

The winners then exploded in the fifth as Hague blasted a solo shot, Brentz a two-run tater and Choice another solo clout for a 6-2 lead.

Wheeler (3-0) pitched seven full innings, striking out 10.

The USA will play its first medal-round game Friday night at 10 (EDT) against the No. 2 seed, Canada’s National Team, with UCLA’s Gerrit Cole on the hill. The winner will get an automatic spot in Sunday’s title game.

Baseball, USA Baseball , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Unearned runs tie series for Japanese

Mike Potter · 13 Jul 2009, 9:28 AM · Comment


usanewmaSix unearned runs in one inning will do it every time.

Japan rallied for a half-dozen in the third inning, and then held on for a 7-5 victory over USA Baseball’s National Team at the Tokyo Dome to tie the 37th Collegiate Friendship Series at one win apiece.

It’s an annual best-of-5 series, and Game 5 will be played even if somebody sweeps the next two.

Yuki Saito, a national hero in Japan known as “The Handkerchief Prince,” was the winning pitcher while Ole Miss’ Drew Pomeranz (2-1) took the loss.

Arizona State’s Matt Newman (pictured) - who finished 3-for-5 with four RBI - and Arkansas’ Andy Wilkins had RBI singles to give the USA a 2-0 lead in the first.

But the hosts got their six runs in the third after a Pomeranz throwing error. Takanori Sato’s two-run double was the big hit in the frame.

Japan made it 7-2 on a wild pitch from Kansas’ T.J. Walz in the sixth inning.

The Americans responded with three in the seventh on Newman’s bases-clearing double, but could get no closer.

Game 3 is Tuesday at 5 a.m. (EDT) in Sendai, Japan.

Baseball, USA Baseball, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wilkins, USA Baseball rip Quetzals in another snoozer; don’t blame the baseball people for the schedule

Mike Potter · 5 Jul 2009, 12:58 AM · Comment


usawilkiAt least it’s over.

USA Baseball’s National Team finished a four-game sweep of Guatemala on Saturday night with an 18-1 victory that wasn’t a bit out of context.

Arkansas’ Andy Wilkins (pictured) hit a 435-foot grand slam while Sonny Gray of Vanderbilt was the winning pitcher as the home team rocked the Quetzals for a fourth straight night in front of a full house at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on the city’s traditional July 4 fireworks night. Team USA players all wore No. 4 jerseys saluting Lou Gehrig on a night Major League Baseball used to promote awareness of ALS.

While Wilkins’ slam in the fifth inning was certainly a big hit and an exciting hit, it certainly wasn’t a key hit.

In the National Team’s four wins over Guatemala in Kannapolis, Cary and Durham, the USA scored a total of 61 runs to the visitors’ two. That score would make for a very, very miserable football game. Continue reading »

Baseball, Durham Bulls, USA Baseball , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Four for July: USA quartet makes history as Guatemalans go hitless

Mike Potter · 2 Jul 2009, 11:14 PM · Comment


usacoleCOLEMAN FIELD/CARY It’s Game 2 of the USA National Team series against Guatemala, and the main suspense is to see whether or not the visitors can get closer than Wednesday night’s 15-1 loss in Kannapolis.

It’s partly cloudy and warm - temperatures in the high ’80s - and the crowd for this one is pretty sparse.

There are no food freebies for the media tonight. Bummer. At least I’ve called ahead to find out and had a good meal at home with the family.

Already today I’ve been at Durham Bulls Athletic Park to do an interview with a player for a “Top 50 prospects” project for a baseball website.

The Bulls weren’t home on Wednesday either and neither were the Carolina Mudcats, making it one of those rare days since March on which there wasn’t at least one high quality baseball game in the Triangle.

That off-day gave me some time for some serious exploration of Facebook, which I had never bothered to join until last weekend. I’m going to start posting my Indy posts to my page every day, as well as putting them all on Twitter, where I am “mikepotterrdu.”

Guatemala has about the widest age range I have ever seen on a baseball team that plays together regularly. Infilelder Jorge Gutierrez, who got the only two hits on Wednesday, is 42, while center fielder Manuel Hernandez is 16.

And apparently on what turns out to be an historic night, I am the only journalist covering the game for local media (Baseball America is also in the house) as the USA wins 10-0 on the first regular-season no-hitter in team history. UCLA’s Gerrit Cole (pictured), The Citadel’s Asher Wojciechowski, Tulane’s Nick Pepitone and Texas Tech’s Chad Bettis team up for the feat. (The 9-0 win against Canada in 2004 at DBAP was during the team’s “trials” phase.) Continue reading »

Baseball, Carolina Mudcats, Durham Bulls, USA Baseball , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

USA opens internationals with easy win over Canadians

Mike Potter · 26 Jun 2009, 12:01 AM · Comment


pomeranzTeam veteran Christian Colon of Cal State-Fullerton led the way with a homer, a double, a single and four RBI as the USA National Team rocked Canada 13-4 in their series opener on Thursday night at the National Training Complex in Cary.

It was a busy day at the NTC, as the 18U Tournament of Stars continued with three games.

In the National Team’s game against Canada, Andy Wilkins of Arkansas added a homer and a single for two RBI for the USA, while Rice’s Rick Hague chipped in a double and a single with an RBI.

Drew Pomeranz of Ole Miss (pictured) was the winning pitcher, striking out 10 against two walks and allowing four hits and one run in four innings.

The Canadians finished with five hits, with Kellin Deglan chipping in a single with two runs scored.

The teams play Game 2 tonight at 7:05 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Baseball, USA Baseball , , , , , , , , , , , ,