Showing posts tagged “Cuba”
Mike Potter ·
5 Nov 2009, 5:46 PM ·
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The Koreans are coming to the Triangle.
USA Baseball has announced that its Collegiate National Team will square off in a five-game friendly series with the Republic of Korea from July 14-18, with the first two of five games in Cary and the final two in Durham.
Korea, currently ranked No. 3 in the world, will be the highest-ranked visiting team in the Triangle since USA Baseball’s headquarters relocated here in 2003. The USA is ranked No. 2 and Cuba No. 1.
Korea’s last visit was in 2006, when the Americans won two out of three games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Korea’s Collegiate National Team last visited North Carolina in 2006, playing the U.S. in a three-game series at the DBAP. Team USA took the series two games to one.
The Triangle games will be July 14 at 7 p.m. and July 15 at 7:30, both at Cary’s Coleman Field. Games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park - which will be part of the Bulls’ season-ticket and some mini-plan packages - are July 17 at 7:05 p.m. and July 18 at 5:05. The location for a July 16 game has not been announced.
USA Baseball has also announced some name changes for its top teams. The former National Team will now be known as the Collegiate National Team, partly to avoid confusion with various youth age-group and women’s “National Teams” sponsored by the organization.
There will also no longer be an entity called the “Professional Team;” instead the World Cup Team and World Baseball Classic Team will simply be referred to by the primary event in which they will participate.
The organization also had two personnel transactions, as Nate Logan was named Director of the 14U National team and Ashley Bratcher Director, Operations & Women’s National Team.
Baseball, Durham Bulls, USA Baseball Ashley Bratcher, Cuba, Japan, Korea, Nate Logan
Mike Potter ·
27 Sep 2009, 3:39 PM ·
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Maybe the Cuban baseball dynasty is beginning to crumble a little bit.
Lucas May blasted a three-run, second-inning homer and Team USA poured on six more runs in the seventh, topping the Cubans 10-5 to win the IBAF World Cup in Nettuno, Italy.
It was the 14th straight win for the Red, White and Blue, which had also beaten the Cubans on Thursday and lost just one of its 19 games after the group of top-level minor leaguers was assembled for the first time earlier this month.
The USA was the defending champion of the tournament, also defeating the Cubans in 2007. Team USA has won the World Cup four times, including its other back-to-back titles in 1973-74.
Tournament MVP Justin Smoak, former Durham Bull Jon Weber (pictured), Terry Tiffee and May all had RBI singles in the seventh-inning spree. Weber and Tiffee joined Smoak on the all-tournament team.
Brad Lincoln was the winning pitcher in relief of Cory Luebke.
Baseball, Durham Bulls, USA Baseball Brad Lincoln, Cory Luebke, Cuba, Italy, Jon Weber, Justin Smoak, Lucas May, Terry Tiffee
Mike Potter ·
26 Sep 2009, 12:38 AM ·
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Team USA will go into the championship game of the IBAF World Cup on a 13-game winning streak.
Kasey Kiker (pictured) allowed just one hit in six innings while Buck Coats had three hits for three RBI on Friday as the Red, White and Blue topped The Netherlands 8-2 in their final game of pool play.
The defending champion Americans will play Cuba in the gold medal game on Sunday in Nettuno, Italy, with the game shown live on the MLB Network.
Ike Davis had his fourth homer of the competition for Team USA, while former Durham Bull Jon Weber added two hits with an RBI.
The big inning was the sixth, in which the Americans rallied for six runs after two were out.
Baseball, Durham Bulls, USA Baseball Buck Coats, Cuba, Ike Davis, Italy, Jon Weber, Kasey Kiker, The Netherlands
Mike Potter ·
25 Sep 2009, 12:11 AM ·
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Team USA won the warmup game, and now the Americans just have to wait until Sunday to see if they can repeat it and win the IBAF World Cup championship game again.
A two-run homer from Terry Tiffee (pictured) provided the biggest blow on Thursday in Nettuno, Italy, giving the Red, White and Blue a 5-3 victory over Cuba in pool play.
Team USA, which has won 12 straight games since dropping its tournament opener to Venezuela in an extra-inning tiebreaker, will attempt to defend its title on Sunday. The USA is 1-6 against the Cubans in World Cup finals.
Jason Castro had an RBI single for the Americans. Lucas Harrell was the winning pitcher in relief of Trevor Reckling, while Ehren Wasserman collected the save.
Team USA will take on The Netherlands while Cuba plays Canada in their final pool play games today.
Baseball, USA Baseball Canada, Cuba, Ehren Wasserman, Jason Castro, Lucas Harrell, Terry Tiffee, The Netherlands, Trevor Reckling, Venezuela
Mike Potter ·
24 Sep 2009, 12:02 AM ·
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Todd Redmond pitched 8 1/3 shutout innings while three teammates including former Durham Bull Jon Weber (pictured) homered, leading defending champion Team USA to a 3-0 victory over Puerto Rico in Florence, Italy and a berth in the title game of the IBAF World Cup.
Ike Davis had a solo homer to right in the second inning, while Buck Coats soloed to right in the fifth and Weber added a blast to center in the eighth.
Redmond (3-0) allowed just four hits and struck out four before former Bull Jason Childers came on to close and earn his first save of the tournament.
The USA will face Cuba on Thursday at 2 p.m. (EDT) in Nettuno in a game to be shown live on MLB Network. Team USA will then close out Round Three against The Netherlands on Friday before playing in Sunday’s 10 a.m. (EDT) title game which will also be shown live on MLB Network.
Baseball, Durham Bulls, USA Baseball Buck Coats, Cuba, Ike Davis, Italy, Jason Childers, Jon Weber, The Netherlands, Todd Redmond
Mike Potter ·
5 Jul 2009, 12:58 AM ·
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At 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 Al Yevoli, ALS, Andy Wilkins, Arkansas Razorbacks, Cary, Chinese Taipei, Coastal Carolina, Cody Wheeler, Cuba, Eastern League, embargo, Guatemala, High Point Panthers, Japan, Kannapolis, Lou Gehrig, Major League Baseball, Manchester, Manuel Hernandez, Marlon Claveria, NECBL, New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Portland Sea Dogs, Republic of China, Rick Jones, Sonny Gray, South Korea, Taiwan, Tulane, Vanderbilt, World Baseball Classic
Mike Potter ·
28 Jun 2009, 10:22 PM ·
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DBAP/DURHAM OK baseball fans, today I’m “Safe at Home in Durham” (although I live in Brier Creek now) for Game 4 of the USA National Team’s five-game set with Canada.
The Red, White and Blue, which has won all three by comfortable scores, will be favored once again. Not just because the U.S. is just better than Canada in baseball at the amateur level, but also because the Canucks have sent an 18U team. Good for the young boys from Canada to get some experience - I mean every golfer would like to play a round with Tiger Woods, right? - but for competitive balance, not so much.
When I get to the press box I learn there will be a total of two keyboard journalists in the house, and that we will be the first to cover any game in the series, which started on Thursday night in Cary. Kudos to the News & Observer for getting to the game, and I’m not going to take shots at the papers in Burlington or Greensboro or any of the smaller surrounding cities for not being here. I’m just not. I would have been around for the first three myself, but I couldn’t be in Zebulon and Durham at the same time.
Today the buffet menu includes both your standard meat-and-tomato sauce lasagna along with a vegetable alternative and Caesar salad.
Canada scored five runs in the first inning on Saturday night before losing 14-5, and today it’s competitive early. After the USA, which is the designated “visiting” team, scratches out two in the first, the Canadians tie it in the bottom of the frame.
But when veteran Christian Colon of Cal State-Fullerton - the only school for which somehow game ops does not have the fight song - blasts a two-out, 0-1 offering over the Blue Monster wall in left in the second, the tricolor boys are off to the races. USA scores two in the third, two in the fifth, five in the sixth, four in the seventh and it’s a challenge to stay engaged in the process.
The homeboys eventually win it 20-3, with 11 different players hitting safely and Coastal Carolina’s Cody Wheeler (pictured) getting the win. In other USA Baseball action on Sunday, Babe Ruth beat Bryce Harper and the American Legion team 8-7 for the championship of the Tournament of Stars.
Continue reading »
ACC, Baseball, USA Baseball American Legion, Asher Wojciechowski, Babe Ruth, Boston Red Sox, Bryce Harper, Cal State-Fullerton, Canada, Cary, Christian Colon, Coastal Carolina, Cody Wheeler, Cuba, Florida State Seminoles, Greg Hamilton, Jason Bay, Jerome Werniuk, Justin Morneau, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, News & Observer, Rick Jones, Russell Martin, Steve McKinnon, Texas Rangers, The Citadel, Tiger Woods, Tournament of Stars, Tulane, Tyler Holt, World Baseball Classic
