Team USA Wins 2002 Haarlem Baseball Week Championship
July 28, 2002 | Baseball
July 28, 2002
HAARLEM, THE NETHERLANDS - The USA Baseball National Team, coached by Lelo Prado, scored five runs in the first inning and made it hold up, as they hung on to beat The Netherlands 5-4 Sunday, capturing the 2002 Haarlem Baseball Week Championship. It was Team USA's 2nd straight title here in Haarlem, after also winning the tournament in 2000.
"We came out today with a great attitude after losing our last two games here, but we found a way to get it done when it counted most, and I'm really proud of our team," said Prado. "This gives us a great feeling as we head towards Italy, to try and capture the World Championship next week."
Team USA tagged Dutch starter Jeroen Deken (0-1) for all five of their runs in the top of the first inning, as Deken (0-1) failed to record an out. The Americans batted around their lineup, collecting four hits and a walk while the Dutch also hit a batter and made an error. Reliever Dave Drayer come on to get out of the jam, but the damage amounted to an early 5-0 lead for American starter Kyle Sleeth (RHP, So, Wake Forest) and Team USA.
The Netherlands then slowly began to get back into the game off the Wake Forest All-American, as a second Dutch reliever - Erik Remmerswaal - kept Team USA at bay, working 6.1 innings of scoreless relief. The Dutch plated a pair in the bottom of the first when Hensley Meulens had a run-scoring single, and Sleeth walked a run in to immediately cut the margin back to 5-2. The Dutch chipped away with another run in the fifth, then made it 5-4 in the sixth, knocking Sleeth out of the game in favor of Huston Street (RHP, Fr, Texas), who struck out Railey Legito with the tying run at third base.
From there, the Texas freshman and NCAA College World Series MVP allowed just one hit the rest of the way, working the final 3.1 frames to record his third save. Sleeth went a total of 5.2 innings, and was touched for four runs (three earned) on five hits, improving to 6-0 on the summer with the victory.
Carlos Quentin (OF, So, Stanford) went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI, and was named the MVP of the game. Landon Powell (C, So, South Carolina) was named the tournament's most outstanding defensive player.
The 2002 USA Baseball National Team is now 18-5 overall as they head to the first-ever FISU Collegiate World Baseball Championships beginning Friday in Messina & Reggio Calabria, Italy. The Americans will open that event on against the host country Italy, at 8:00 pm local time (2:00 pm EDT, 11:00 am PDT) Friday night, August 2.
TOURNAMENT AWARDS
Leading Hitter: Rolnier Varona - Cuba .556
Best Pitcher: Yukihara Hamamoto - Japan 0.00 ERA
Home Run Champion: Pedro Jose Rodriguez - Cuba
Jason Cook - South Africa 1
Outstanding Defensive Player: Landon Powell - USA
MVP Brian Engelhardt - The Netherlands
Most Popular Player Alexander Smit - The Netherlands
Release courtesy of USA Baseball
