USA Advances to Gold Medal Game

TAINAN, Taiwan (www.USABaseball.com) -- Designated hitter Jeff Clement (So., Southern California, Marshalltown, Iowa) hit the game-winning grand slam home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the 2004 USA Baseball National Team a 5-2 come-from-behind victory over host Chinese Taipei in the semifinal game of the FISU II World University Baseball Championship Saturday night at Tainan Stadium.

Team USA continued its perfect run through the tournament with its seventh straight victory, setting up a showdown with Japan (6-1) in the Gold Medal game tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. local time (5 a.m. EST). The Americans have won 11 of their last 13 games to improve to 17-7 overall. Japan advanced to the championship final with a 5-0 victory over Korea.

The Red, White and Blue trailed 2-1 after seven innings before Clement’s blast into the second deck in right-center field gave Team USA its second dramatic win of the tournament. Right fielder Travis Buck (So., Arizona State, Richland, Wash.) and first baseman Alex Gordon (So., Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb.) set the stage for the comeback with consecutive singles to lead off the inning. After third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (So., Virginia, Virginia Beach, Va.) reached on an infield single, Clement drilled Kuo-Ching Lee’s second offering into the second deck, an estimated 470-feet away.

“Tonight was a real dogfight between two great teams,” said USA manager Frank Cruz. “They gave us two great games and we really had to have some players step up and give some big performances to beat them. Jeff Clement came through and won the game for us with his big home run. We also had some great at-bats from Buck, Gordon and Zimmerman. And our pitching has been unbelievable. We are in position to win a gold medal and I couldn’t ask any more of this group of guys.”

Relief pitchers Joey Devine (So., NC State, Junction City, Kan.) and J. Brent Cox (So., Texas, Bay City, Texas) dominated the late innings to seal the victory. Devine picked up the win with another solid relief outing, lowering his team-leading ERA to 0.56 with 2.1 scoreless innings. The two-time All-ACC selection allowed just one hit and struck out three to pick up his first decision of the summer. Cox nailed down the win with his third save of the tournament, striking out the side to end the game. Starting pitcher Ricky Romero (So., Cal State Fullerton, East Los Angeles, Calif.) gutted out five strong innings, giving up three this and two runs to keep Team USA in the game.

Team USA out-hit Taiwan 10-4, with Buck, Zimmerman and Gordon all leading the way with two hits apiece. Clement’s home run was his third of the summer and the first grand slam for Team USA.

“We are in a position to win the gold medal and just to be able to help the team get there is a great feeling,” said Clement, a two-time All-Pac-10 selection at USC. “I was just trying to put the ball in play to get that runner home from third and I got a good pitch and put a good swing on it.”

Taiwan took the early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. A leadoff walk and two doubles off Romero got the host team on the scoreboard first.

The Americans put a dent into the two-run lead with a single tally in the bottom of the fourth inning. Catcher Taylor Teagarden (So., Texas, Carrollton, Texas) reached on a two-out single up the middle and scored on a towering triple off the left field fence by shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (So., Long Beach State, Sunnyvale, Calif.).

Team USA had a chance to plate the tying and possibly go ahead runs in the sixth inning, but came up empty. Gordon and Zimmerman hit back-to-back doubles to lead off the frame, but Gordon was held up at third after getting a late jump on the ball and was picked off third base trying to dive back to the base.

Chinese Taipei starting pitcher Chien-Ming Chiang allowed only five hits and one run in six innings before giving way to the bullpen. Sung-Wei Tseng suffered the loss giving up two runs and three hits in one inning of work. Leadoff hitter Chen-Yu Chung led Taiwan at the plate going 2-for-5 with a run scored and RBI.

Gold Medal Game: The gold medal game between Team USA and Japan will feature a battle between hard-throwing right-handers. Luke Hochevar (So., Tennessee, Fowler, Colo.) will match up against Japanese ace Yasuhiro Nasuno. Nasuno beat Team USA in the opener of the 33rd Annual USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star earlier this month giving up seven hits and three runs in six innings. Hochevar pitched in relief that game striking out seven in 4.2 scoreless innings.

Game Notes: Team USA will be playing in its second straight FISU World University Baseball Championship Gold Medal Game... the 2002 squad lost 6-0 to Cuba... after enduring a five-game sweep to Japan in the 33rd Annual Japan vs. USA Collegiate All-Star Series, Team USA has rattled off 11 wins in the last 13 games... USA defeated Japan 5-3 on Friday to finish the round-robin portion of the tournament with a 6-0 record... Troy Tulowitzki, Alex Gordon and Taylor Teagarden all extended their hitting streaks to four games... Travis Buck notched his sixth multi-hit game of the summer to raise his batting average to .431 (28-for-65)... Buck has been a consistent force at the plate, recording at least one hit in 19 of 22 games... Ryan Zimmerman recorded his team-leading 11th double and 11th multi-hit game going 2-for-3... Zimmerman leads the team in the Triple Crown categories batting .473 (35-for-74) with four home runs and 27 RBI... Gordon has been on a tear going 8-for-11 (.727) with seven runs scored during his four-game hitting streak... Joey Devine lowered his ERA to 0.56 with 2.1 scoreless innings... he has allowed only one run and struck out 26 in 16.0 innings this summer (nine appearances)... starting pitcher Ricky Romero ended his summer with a 3-1 record and a 1.57 ERA in five starts (28.2 IP).

FISU Notes: Team USA is hitting .317 (72-for-227) in the tournament with 14 doubles, four triples, six home runs and a .493 slugging percentage... the pitchers have been dominant with a 1.07 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 59.0 IP... J. Brent Cox is 1-0 with three saves while not allowing an earned run in four appearances (4.1 IP) in the tournament... Alex Gordon leads the team hitting .611 (11-for-18) with a double, two home runs and five RBI... Travis Buck has hit at a .455 (10-for-22) clip in the seven games.

Box score (NCAA) 2004 USA Baseball National Team Chinese Taipei at USA National Team Jul 31, 2004 at Tainan, Taiwan (Tainan Stadium)

Chinese Taipei 2 (3-4,3-4 FISU)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Chung, C. cf............. 5 1 2 1 0 1 2 0 2 Yao-Hsing Yang rf........ 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 Chin-Ping Lin dh......... 3 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 Kao-Hui Lo lf............ 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 Chiang-Ho Chen ss........ 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 2 Kuo-Lung Hsu 1b.......... 4 0 0 0 0 0 7 2 1 Yin-Chieh Liao pr....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Zong-Nan Lin 3b.......... 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 Chuang-Hsun Tu c......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 9 0 1 Tai-Chi Kuo ph.......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Wei-Chuan Su 2b.......... 2 1 0 0 2 1 1 2 0 Chien-Ming Chiang p...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Sung-Wei Tseng p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Kuo-Ching Lee p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals................... 32 2 4 2 4 8 24 9 8

USA National Team 5 (17-7,7-0 FISU)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Drew Stubbs cf........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Travis Buck rf........... 3 1 2 0 1 0 2 0 0 Alex Gordon 1b........... 4 1 2 0 0 2 8 0 1 John Mayberry Jr. 1b.... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ryan Zimmerman 3b........ 3 1 2 0 1 1 0 4 0 Jeff Clement dh.......... 4 1 1 4 0 2 0 0 2 Taylor Teagarden c....... 4 1 1 0 0 1 9 1 1 Troy Tulowitzki ss....... 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 Trevor Crowe lf.......... 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 Chris Valaika 2b......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 2 0 Ricky Romero p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Joey Devine p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 J. Brent Cox p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals................... 33 5 10 5 2 9 27 9 6

Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Chinese Taipei...... 002 000 000 - 2 4 0 USA National Team... 000 100 04X - 5 10 1 -------------------------------------------

E - Tulowitzki(7). LOB - Taiwan 8; Team USA 6. 2B - Chung, C.; Lin, C; Gordon(5); Zimmerman(11). 3B - Tulowitzki(1). HR - Clement(3). HBP - Lin, C. SB - Yang; Lin, C; Crowe(5).

Chinese Taipei IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Chien-Ming Chiang... 6.0 5 1 1 2 7 22 24 97 Sung-Wei Tseng...... 1.0 3 2 2 0 1 6 6 22 Kuo-Ching Lee....... 1.0 2 2 2 0 1 5 5 12

USA National Team IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Ricky Romero........ 5.2 3 2 2 3 2 20 23 81 Joey Devine......... 2.1 1 0 0 0 3 8 9 40 J. Brent Cox........ 1.0 0 0 0 1 3 4 5 23

Win - Devine (1-0). Loss - Tseng, S. (0-1). Save - Cox (3). HBP - by Devine (Lin, C). Inherited runners/scored: Lee 2/2; Devine 1/0. Pitches/strikes: Chiang, C. 97/67; Tseng, S. 22/16; Lee 12/10; Romero 81/47; Devine 40/27; Cox 23/14. Umpires - HP: Hayashi (Japan) 1B: Yoon (Korea) 2B: Lozano (Mexico) 3B: Brycht (Czech) Start: 5:00 PM Time: 2:56 Attendance: 4567 Game notes: ID-276976 Tseng, S. faced 2 batters in the 8th. Game: 04USA25