2008 WUC Baseball: Day 2
July 19th, 2008
USA vs. KOR
KOR vs. USA: 2-5
Yesterday, July 18th, Team USA won its opener behind a strong start of Stephen Strasburg, one of the candidates for next´s year first draft pick, with a 5:2 victory over Korea. Strasburg threw seven no hit innings, facing twenty two batters, one over minimum, a walk in the fifth. He struck out thirteen, threw 87 pitches, 66 of them for strike, relying mainly on his blazing fastball. When right fielder Blake Smith hit a solo homerun in the fifth, it looked like it´s all Strasburg needed but Korea came back in the eighth to tie it off reliever Kendal Volz. Team USA then errupted for four runs, two of them came via homerun off the bat of shortstop Ryan Jackson. Korea scored one in the bottom but that was it. The game was played in much friendlier conditions than last night´s championship opener, under blue sky at the renewed Ostrava field and in front of the TV cameras for live coverage.
CZE vs. LTU: 5-0
The Czech team played in front of the thousand home fans for the second time, this time against Lithuania. Starter Boris Bokaj got into the early troubles by allowing two runners, first on walk, second one got hit by pitch. But a good defense behind him helped a lot to keep Lithuania without a run. The Czech team got on board in the bottom of the frame but that was it for another four innings, dominated by both pitchers and good defensive plays. Then in the fifth Toman got on base with a hit, followed by two out triple by so far the best hitter on the Czech team, Jakub Malik, to make it 2:0. Malik scored on the very next play, a single by Polansky. The host team then pocketed the victory by scoring another two runs in the sixth, helped by a walk and error. The Lithuanian team tried hard to get on the score board but solid pitching from both Bokaj and reliever Stribrcky shut them out so the host nation earned its first win.
USA vs. KOR
TPE vs. CAN
Daily Scores
KOR vs. USA: 2-5 TPE vs. CAN: 6-4 CZE vs. LTU: 5-0
