Stern Helps Canadians to Baseball Medal Round

ATHENS ? Baseball Canada’s Olympic team shut out Australia 11-0 tonight to secure third place in round-robin play while setting up a rematch against Cuba in one of two semifinal games in the medal round at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Ryan Radmanovich and Jeremy Ware both homered and left-hander Phil Devey allowed just two hits over six scoreless innings to pick up the win for Canada, which posted its fourth shutout victory and wrapped up the round-robin tournament with a 5-2 record.

"I felt great," said Devey following the game, which marked his Olympic debut. "I wasn’t really nervous. I worked my butt off to get here."

Former Husker Adam Stern, who played at Nebraska from 1999 to 2001, went 1-for-5 with a run scored for the victorious Canadians

Canada began its offensive barrage in the third inning, when a sacrifice fly by Danny Klassen and a two-run double by Andy Stewart marked a 3-0 lead.

Radmanovich followed with a two-run home run in the fourth inning to also score Ware, who doubled to lead off the frame.

"We hadn’t played to our potential (recently) so it’s nice to get some momentum going into the medal round," said Ware, whose three-run home run capped off a six-run ninth inning to give Canada its total of 11 runs ? a tournament high for the club.

Canada, which had only scored five runs in its last three games while managing just 17 hits in that span, notched a total of 12 hits against Australia.

"Hitting is contagious," said Radmanovich. "Once a couple of guys found a sweet spot, everyone began to relax at the plate."

With both teams assured of a medal round berth and playing merely for semi-final positioning, Canada’s victory means the club will face second-place Cuba Aug. 24 while top-seeded Japan will face Australia. The winners of both games will face off for the gold medal Aug. 25 while the losers will battle for the bronze medal.

In round-robin action, Canada fell 5-2 to Cuba Aug. 21. "We played them tough," Radmanovich said of Canada’s loss to Cuba. "We know we can beat them."

Canada will use a scheduled off-day tomorrow to practice in preparation for its semi-final game.