USA To Meet Cuba in World Championship Game Sunday
August 10, 2002 | Baseball
Aug. 10, 2002
Messina, Sicily, ITALY - The 2002 USA Baseball National Team advanced to the first ever FISU World University Baseball Championship game with a 2-1 victory over Japan Saturday at Primo Nebiolo Stadium. The United States, under U of L Head Coach Lelo Prado, will meet Cuba for the title on Sunday, August 11 at 8:30 pm local time (2:30 pm EDT/11:30 pm PDT), as live play-by-play coverage of the game can be followed by logging on to www.usabaseball.com.
Brad Sullivan (RHP, So, Houston) worked seven strong innings, and surrendered only one unearned run on five hits, to improve his record to 7-0 on the summer. He had two walks and five strikeouts, as he was relieved by Chad Cordero (RHP, So, CS Fullerton) in the eighth. Cordero pitched the final two frames, shutting down the Japanese for his second save.
Japan jumped on the scoreboard first, as they notched an unearned run in the second. Yosuke Hiraishi reached on an error by Eric Patterson (IF, Fr. Georgia Tech), and Nobuhiro Matsuda followed with a double down the left field line. Syuichi Murata then singled over the head of drawn-in second baseman Rickie Weeks (IF, So, Southern), scoring Matsuda. But Sullivan was able to escape the frame without any further damage.
Japanese starter Tsuyoshi Wada (1-1) limited the Americans to just one hit through five innings, but Team USA finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Aaron Hill (IF, So, LSU) gave his teammates some life by connecting on a line-drive, solo homer over the left field wall, knotting the score at 1-1. That inspired Michael Aubrey (IF, So, Tulane) to follow with a double into the right-center gap, and Team USA had Wada clearly rattled. Another ringing double, this time to left-center by Conor Jackson (IF, So, California) put Team USA on top, 2-1. That would be the extent of the offense in the game.
Japan went to reliever Yuya Kubo in the seventh, as he worked two shutout innings of relief. But Wada suffered the loss after going six innings and allowing two earned runs on four hits while fanning five.
American Kyle Sleeth (7-0, 1.23 ERA) - a sophomore from Wake Forest University - will take the mound against Cuba for the World Championship. Team USA has been designated as the home team for the World Championship game, after winning a coin flip. The Cubans (6-0) advanced to the title game with a 2-0 shutout over Chinese Taipei, as righthander Alain Soler hurled a complete-game, six-hitter.
For a complete boxscore and play-by-play of this game, log on to www.usabaseball.com and click on the flashing "LIVE GAME COVERAGE" logo on the front page of the website.
For a live webcam of Primo Nebiolo (stadium), updated stats, rosters, and more information about the 2002 FISU World University Baseball Championship, log on to www.cusmessina.it.
Release courtesy of USA Baseball
