Updated: July 28, 2002
HAARLEM, The Netherlands – Notre Dame’s Grant Johnson came on to close Saturday’s game with two shutout innings but the United States National Team failed to rally in its final round-robin game at the Haarlem Baseball Week international tournament, losing a 6-2 decision to the host country. Despite losing to Japan on Friday (2-1) and then dropping The Netherlands game , the USA (3-2) earned a rematch vs. the host country (4-1) in Sunday’s noon championship game – with five first-inning runs lifting the USA to a 5-4 win and the tournament title (see game notes below).
Three teams finished tied for second in the six-team round-robin, with the USA earning a spot in the championship game thanks to wins over both of the other teams (2-0 vs. Taiwan and 4-1 vs. Cuba). The USA next will have four days off from competition before playing in the World Championship, Aug. 2-11 in Messina and Reggio Calabria, Italy.
Georgia Tech lefthander Kyle Bakker suffered Saturday’s loss, after allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk over 5 1/3 innings (with six strikeouts). Johnson closed the game by allowing one walk and one hit in the 7th and 8th innings, with three strikeouts.
Johnson now ranks sixth on the talented USA staff in both ERA (1.84) and opponent batting average (.163), with his 14 2/3 innings also including 18 Ks, 6 walks and 8 hits allowed. The USA is 18-5 overall during the 2002 summer, with the pitching staff’s 1.55 ERA (prior to Sunday) on pace to break the Team USA record (1.56, in 2000) while the USA offense was batting .271 and averaging just 5.7 runs per nine innings (prior to Sunday’s rematch).
The Netherlands opened Saturday’s scoring with an unearned run in the 2nd inning, with Dirk van’t Klooster hitting a one-out single and stealing second before scoring on a two-out error by LSU shortstop Aaron Hill. South Carolina catcher Landon Powell tied the game with his third home run of the summer, on a leadoff blast to right in the top of the 5th. But the hosts answered right back with two runs, behind Ralph Milliard’s one-out single, a wild pitch, Railey Legito’s walk and a two-run double by Sidney de Jong.
The USA fell into a 6-2 hole in the 6th, when van’t Klooster’s one-out double ended Bakker’s day. Cal State Fullerton’s Wes Littleton then took the mound but gave up a two-out, RBI single by Brian Engelhardt and two more singles by Maikel Benner and Jeroen Sluyter (the last run was unearned due to an error by Stanford centerfielder Sam Fuld).
Johnson walked the second batter he faced in the 7th, with a groundout, popup and strikeout. The USA tried to rally in the 8th, with Hill legging out an infield single to knock starter Eelco Jansen from the game. Patrick Beljaards took the mound and threw a wild pitch before striking out Fuld. Hill stole third and scored on a groundout by Georgia Tech second baseman Eric Patterson.
Johnson gave up a leadoff double by Melfried Comenencia in the 8th but got out of the inning with a groundout and a pair of strikeouts.
In Sunday’s title game, the USA roughed up Dutch starter Jeroen Deken in the first inning by plating five runs – with Deken leaving before recording an out. The big inning included four hits, a walk, a hit batter and an error.
The Netherlands chipped away versus righthander Kyle Sleeth, knocking the Wake Forest ace out of the game in the sixth. The hosts scored two runs of their own in the first (on a Hensley Meulens single and a bases-loaded walk) before forcing Sleeth from the game with single runs in the fifth and sixth.
Second reliever Erik Remmerswaal kept Team USA at bay by working 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Texas closer Huston Street took the mound in the bottom of the sixth and struck out Railey Legito with the tying run at third base.
Street allowed just one hit the rest of the way, working the final 3 1/3 frames to record his third save of the summer. Sleeth was touched for four runs (three earned) on five hits over his 5 2/3 innings.
Stanford outfielder Carlos Quentin (named the game’s MVP) went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI while South Carolina catcher Landon Powell was named the tournament’s most outstanding defensive player.
22-GAME STAT UPDATE (prior to Sunday’s title game): The USA pitching staff owned a 1.55 ERA and .189 opponent batting average, plus nearly a 5-to-1 K-to-walk ratio (233/50) in 198 innings (132 H) … the team’s two aces had nearly identical numbers: Wake Forest’s Kyle Sleeth (0.93, 5-0, .162 opp avg., 38.2 IP, 22 H, 8 BB, 43 Ks) and Houston’s Brad Sullivan (0.98, 5-0, .161, 36.2 IP, 20 H, 10 BB, 37 Ks) … the team’s other starters include Bakker (2.33, 3-1, .221, 27 IP, 23 H, 4 BB, 35 Ks) and Rice RHP Phil Humber (1.80, 2-2, .195, 25 IP, 16 H, 11 BB, 27 Ks) … top relievers include Cal State Fullerton’s Chad Cordero (0.00, 0-1, SV, .152, 12.1 IP, 7 H, 3 BB, 23 Ks) and Texas closer Huston Street (1.08, 2 SV, .125, 8.1 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 13 Ks) … the USA bullpen also includes Littleton (2.57, 1-0, .212, 14 IP, 11 H, 7 BB, 12 Ks), Long Beach State LHP Abe Alvarez (2.19, .333, 12.1 IP, 15 H, 1 BB, 12 Ks) and Southwest Missouri closer Bob Zimmerman (3.12, 2 SV, .138, 8.2 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 11 Ks) … the USA’s 24-game offensive stats included a .271 batting avg., 122 runs, 13 home runs, 5 triples, 37 doubles, 73 walks, 127 Ks and 22 stolen bases … Tulane 1B Michael Aubrey went 0-for-4 on Saturday, dropping his team-best batting avg. from .425 to .403 (18 RBI, 3 HR) … Patterson’s hot hitting in the last week had boosted his average to .347 (10 RBI, 13-13 SB) … other top hitters included California 3B Conor Jackson (.328, 6 RBI, 11 R, 8 2B, 12 BB) and Stanford OF Carlos Quentin (.319, 17 RBI, 3 HR) … three others were hitting .250-plus: Powell (.275, 13 RBI, 3 HR, 2 3B), Cal State Fullerton OF Shane Costa (.266, 12 RBI, HR) and Louisville OF Mark Jurich (.250, 13 RBI, 4 HR) … rounding out the offense were Southern OF/IF Rickie Weeks (.235, 8 RBI, HR, 2 3B, 11 R, 2 SB), Hill (.227, 14 RBI, 6 2B) and Fuld (.171, 10 RBI, 7 R) … Arizona State SS Dustin Pedroia (.208, 4 RBI, 6 R) has left the team due to injury … Stanford C Ryan Garko – who recently replaced injured Georgia C Clint Sammons – has played in two games (0-for-6) … the USA owned a .968 fielding pct. (27 errors), with 20% of the opponent runs (9 of 45) coming unearned.
Here are capsule recaps of the USA’s first four games in The Netherlands:
USA 2, TAIWAN 0 (July 19) – Sleeth’s two-hitter led the way (9 Ks) while Patterson (3-for-4) helped generate both U.S. runs … Aubrey and Sam Fuld both added a pair of hits … Sleeth allowed just one runner to reach third base … Patterson hit a one-out single in the 5th and stole second, followed by Pedroia’s walk, Hill’s groundout and Fuld’s bunt hit … Chang Wei Tu (6 IP, 8 H) took the loss, despite leaving eight USA runners on base … the USA added a run in the 9th, vs. Wei Lun Pan … Weeks and Patterson led off the 9th with singles, moving up on Pedroia’s bunt and Hill’s RBI groundball.
USA 8, SOUTH AFRICA 0 (July 21) – Bakker logged five shutout innings (1 H, 8 Ks) while six relievers worked the final four frames … the USA jumped on Darren Smith for six runs in the top of the 2nd … Patterson had a run-scoring single while Hill stroked a three-run double, followed by Fuld’s RBI double (Quentin later added a sacrifice fly vs. reliever Kenneth Marshall … after a 45-minute rain delay, the USA tacked on two more runs in the 5th – with a walk, error and three consecutive hits (one by Patterson, who added a third hit later in the game) … Bakker retired 14 of the 17 hitters he faced.
USA 4, CUBA 1 (July 25) – Sullivan threw 6.1 innings and limited Cuba to one unearned run on five hits (7 Ks) … Alvarez and Cordero worked the final 2.2 innings to complete the victory … with two runners on base in the 7th, Alvarez came on to induce a double-play groundball … Cordero worked a scoreless 9th to notch the save … in the bottom of the 1st, Weeks reached second base on an error by 1B Juan Miguel Miranda … Aubrey then sent an RBI single to right-center … a two-out double by Marcos Naranjo tied the game in the 3rd … the USA retook the lead in the 4th, when Pedroia’s sacrifice fly plated Jackson … starter Norberto Gonzalez was unable to get out of the 4th, relieved by Livan Gonzalez … the USA added two more runs in the 5th, with the key blow coming when Jackson scorched a double over the head of Naranjo in left field (scoring Weeks and Quentin).
JAPAN 2, USA 1 -(July 26) – A ringing double into the right-center gap by Syouitsu Ohmatsu scored Yoshiyuki Igawa and broke a 1-1 tie in the 8th … reliever Takayuki Kushima hurled 5.2 innings and surrendered only one hit – a single by Jackson …Yukihara Hamamoto pitched a perfect 9th for the save … the USA scored in the 1st, without the benefit of a base hit … Patterson drew a leadoff walk, stole second base, took third on a fly ball off the bat of Weeks and scored on a Aubrey’s sacrifice fly … Shoichi Saitoh lasted only 1.1 innings before Takayuki Kushima came on to induce a line-drive double play in the 2nd … Humber carried a no-hitter through three innings and retired the first two hitters in the 4th … a two-out, single to right field by Yasumori Hayashi was the first hit of the game for Japan … Igawa then had led off with a base hit and eventually came around to score on a groundout by Yuuki Itoh … Humber (8 IP, 4 H, 7 Ks) walked Igawa leading off the 8th, with the runner later scoring on Ohmatsu’s double.