USA Baseball Advances to Face Cuba

The United States baseball team used another solid relief effort from Brian Duensing to lock up the No. 3 seed in the medal round, defeating Japan, 4-2, in 11 innings Wednesday morning.

The United States (5-2) will face Cuba, which finished second in round-robin play with a 6-1 record, Friday morning at 5 a.m. (central).  The game will be carried on a tape-delayed basis on MSNBC during the 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. slot Friday afternoon. Fans can also watch the action live on NBCOlympics.com.

Duensing, who pitched at Nebraska from 2002 until 2005, was solid once again in relief, tossing a shutout inning of no-hit ball against Japan. Duensing is now 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA over 5.2 innings of action, allowing one hit in his three Olympic appearances.

While the Americans advanced to the medal round, the Canadians run at an Olympic medal also ended Wednesday, as Team Canada lost to Chinese Taipei, 6-5. It was the fifth one-run loss for the Canadians in the Olympics, who dropped to 2-5 in tournament action.

Former Husker Adam Stern led the Canadian contingent by going 2-for-5 and scoring twice on Wednesday. Stern, who played at Nebraska from 1999 until 2001, has now played in two Olympic Games, as he was on the 2004 team in Athens, Greece.