Sleeth Leads Team USA to Win in Italy
8/5/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 5, 2002
Messina, Sicily, ITALY - Wake Forest's Kyle Sleeth pitched seven innings and allowed only three hits and one unearned run while striking out nine, as the 2002 USA Baseball National Team (2-0) continued their quest for the first ever World University Baseball Championship with a 9-1 victory over Canada (0-2) Sunday night at Primo Nebiolo.
Sleeth improved his record to 7-0 on the summer for Team USA, as the American squad took command of Pool A here at the World Championships. Team USA and Cuba are the only two teams that have posted 2-0 records so far, as the Cubans have defeated Chinese Taipei and France in Pool B.
Michael Aubrey (IF, So, Tulane) put Team USA ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first when he blasted a two-out, solo home run off Canadian starter Josh Krywionek (0-1). It was Aubrey's fifth longball of the summer, and second in as many games here in Italy.
It stayed that way until the fourth, when the Americans tacked on three runs to gain some breathing room. Rickie Weeks (IF, So, Southern) hit a run-scoring single with two outs that plated Aaron Hill (IF, So, LSU). Then after Aubrey walked to load the bases, Krywionek balked a run home and followed that with a wild pitch, giving Team USA a 4-0 lead.
Canada scored their only run in the seventh on a base hit by Marc Sgrignoli, bringing home James Rutherford who had reached on an error by Eric Patterson (IF, Fr, Georgia Tech).
Team USA notched two more in the bottom of the seventh, as Carlos Quentin (OF, So, Stanford) had an rbi-double, and later scored on a Canadian error. Aubrey chipped in another run-scoring double in the eighth, and then Conor Jackson (IF, So, California) drove home two more with a double, ending the American scoring for the night.
Wes Littleton (RHP, So, CS Fullerton) and Huston Street (RHP, Fr, Texas) each hurled one scoreless inning of relief, to finish off the contest. The 2002 USA Baseball National Team is now 20-5 overall. Team USA next plays on Tuesday, August 6 at 3:30 pm local time (9:30 am EDT/6:30 am PDT) vs. China.
After two games of technical problems, USA Baseball was again able to webcast the live play-by-play of tonight's game on their website at www.usabaseball.com. Although the computer server being used at the stadium did shut down briefly mid-game causing a delay of the webcast, USA Baseball is not expecting any more difficulties with media operations during the remaining games of the World Championships here in Italy.
For a complete boxscore and play-by-play of this game, log on to www.usabaseball.com/natl_schedule.html and click on the red "LIVE SCORING" option listed next to tonight's game on the 2002 USA Baseball Red, White and Blue Tour schedule.
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.