Welcome to USA Baseball: Game Recap

14-U NATIONAL TEAM ADVANCES TO GOLD MEDAL GAME

Team USA Trounces Guatemala 11-1 in Semi-Final

January 26, 2007

GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA - On Friday night the USA Baseball 14-U National Team gained a berth in the gold medal game of the Pan-Am 'A' Regional Qualifying event, shutting down Guatemala 11-1 in five innings.

Starting pitcher Tyler Krause (Fountain Hills, Ariz.) set the tone early with a strikeout and an unassisted pick-off in the first inning. The host country's offense was completely overmatched by the hard-throwing righty's 1-2 combo of powerful fastball and knee-buckling curve. Krause racked up eight punch-outs and gave up only one hit as he pitched all but one out of the contest.

Team USA's offensive theme for the day was persistence, for the Americans managed to score at least one run in every inning of play. Krause led off the game with a hustled-out single to the shortstop and scored on outfielder Ryan Parker's (San Mateo, Calif.) seeing-eye single to left. Parker advanced to third on a balk and passed ball, and then slid safely into home on a wild pitch. After third-baseman Cole Gleason (Mesa, Ariz.) earned a free pass, outfielder Joe Armstrong (Union City, Calif.) smoked a line drive double past the center-fielder to plate his teammate and cap-off a three-run first inning.

Krause scored again in the second inning on shortstop Zach Davies' (Gilbert, Ariz.) sacrifice fly, and Gleason added another run in the third with a solo shot on a two-strike breaking pitch that didn't break.

Meanwhile, Krause continued to mow down Guatemalan hitters without mercy.

"I thought his competitive fire was an important ingredient for us to be successful tonight," said coach Tom Succow (Glendale, Ariz.). "He got behind a little in the count sometimes, but always managed to get the out. We faced the best pitcher we had faced so far in the tournament, and Tyler matched or bettered him every step of the way and allowed us to manufacture our runs. Offensively and defensively, I believe this was our best game."

The U.S. scoring continued in the fourth after second-baseman Lucas Long (San Francisco, Calif.) doubled to right and Davies drove him in with a rope up the middle. Parker followed with Team USA's second homerun of the night, a towering fly ball that just cleared the right-center field fence.

The Americans stymied Guatemala in the top of the fifth after Davies relieved Krause and forced a week ground ball to the first baseman to end the inning. In the U.S. half of the frame, outfielder Colin Reed (Belmont, Calif.) and shortstop Kai Davis (Lindon, Utah) started a two-out rally by drawing back to back walks. Long and Krause followed with back to back singles, the former driving in Reed. Davies recorded his third game-winning hit of the tournament with a blooper that landed just out of the Guatemalan shortstop's reach. Both Davis and Krause scored, resulting in Team USA's fourth run-rule win in five games.

Still in its first ever international competition, the 14-U National Team will meet Nicaragua in the gold medal game at 5:00 p.m. Central time on Saturday at Galvez Sobral Stadium.

Guatemala........... 000 01 - 1 1 1
USA.................... 311 33 - 11 10 0

Start: 6:30 pm
Time: 1:49
Attendance: 516

Jan. 20 Tournament Results
Nicaragua 12 vs. Honduras 2
Guatemala 11 vs. USA 22

Jan. 21 Tournament Results
Nicaragua defeated El Salvador
Honduras defeated Guatemala

Jan. 22 Tournament Results
El Salvador defeated Honduras
USA 19 vs. Nicaragua 7

January 23 Tournament Results
USA 18 vs. Honduras 1
El Salvador defeated Guatemala

January 24 Tournament Results
USA 16 vs. El Salvador 6
Nicaragua defeated Guatemala

January 25 OFF DAY

January 26 Semi-Final Results
(3) El Salvador 5 vs. (2) Nicaragua 16
(4) Guatemala 1 vs. (1) USA 11

January 27 Tournament Schedule
Bronze Medal Game: El Salvador vs. Guatemala, 9:00 AM
Gold Medal Game: Nicaragua vs. USA, 5:30 PM

Tournament Standings
1. USA 5-0
2. Nicaragua 4-1
3. El Salvador 2-3
4. Guatemala 1-4
5. Honduras 0-4