USSSA National Team Update (Monday June 20th):
The USSSA High School Varsity National Team departed the JFK airport on Friday, June 17th at 7:45pm (EST) and arrived in Prague, CR at 10:00am local time on Saturday, June 18th.
For the last 2 days, the team has been practicing in preparation for the upcoming “Prague Baseball Week” (PBW) Tournament, which begins tomorrow, June 21st. USSSA will play at 12pm (local time) against Aist and again at 3pm (local time) against the Czech Republic. All games are being played at the Eagles Praha Baseball Complex. Jacob Milliman (AL) will open against Aist and Thomas Olson (KS) will open against Czech Republic
In addition to the scheduled practices, the USSSA National Team has had the opportunity to explore some of the local attractions in Prague, including the Prague Castle, which was visited Sunday.
Game 1: AIST vs USSSA
USSSA took on the powerful AIST Team out of the United States in the first official game of Prague Baseball Week 2011. AIST is a collegiate team which consists of players primarily from the NCAA Division II, III, and NAIA levels. The game started off with a dominant performance by the big USSSA right hander Jacob Milliman (Alabama). The sinkerballer cruised through his time on the mound to a tune of no earned runs, no hits, 2 walks, and one strikeout.
USSSA offense stayed quite for the first four innings of the game until Cody Sharp and Matty Ferriera (FL) walked to lead off the inning. Montes (PR) then laid a perfect sacrifice bunt down the third base line were out of a rushed throw, the AIST pitcher overthrew their firstbaseman to allow Sharp to score from second. The big blow of the game came a few batters later when LJ Newman (SC) hit a two out, three run linedrive homerun to make the score four to nothing.
The USSSA pitching staff continued to baffle the AIST hitters. The strong American pitching staff was led by Zach Brown (TX), Wyatt Mathieson (TX), and Matty Ferriera (FL). Mathieson also launched a solo homerun in the sixth inning to put the game out of reach for AIST.
Another standout performer for team USSSA include Donald Dewees (FL) who had three hits and played great in centerfield.
Final Score: AIST 1 – USSSA 5
Game 2: USSSA vs Czech Republic
In game two for the USSSA team, the young players had the difficult task of taking on the more experienced Czech National Team. In the first inning the USSSA defense made a couple of key errors which led to three Czech runs. Staring catcher Wyatt Mathieson (TX) was able to help gets his team out of trouble by gunning down to runs attempting to steal second base. Starting pitcher Thomas Olsen (KS) pitched very well with 5 2/3 innings pitched and no earned runs.
The USSSA offense got on the board early in the first inning with a solo homerun off the bat of Bryant Hodge (OK) to narrow the gap 3 -1. In the fifth inning, Jacob Hornbacher (MI) came up with two outs and a man on second and laced a line drive single back up the middle to make the score 3 – 2. After Joey Wabick (IL) reached on an infield single, Donald Deweez (FL) took a 3-2 fastball down the rightfield line for a two RBI triple. Wyatt Mathieson (TX) added to the USSSA lead with a linedrive homerun in the sixth inning.
USSSA ran into some trouble in the eight inning when it felt like nothing was going their way. Czech Republic tied the game in the inning with one hard hit double and a couple of seeing eye base hits.
The game remained tied until the top of the tenth when unfortuanetly, luck again was on the Czech side and thay were able to squeak across two more runs to make the score 7-5 and too much for USSSA to overcome.
Other top performers for USSSA included right fielder Elander (FL) who had two hits and Nicholas Lawrence who threw very well and kept the game close for USSSA. Ferriera (FL) again showed his strong right arm by throwing two shutout innings of baseball.
Final Score: Czech Republic 7 – USSSA 5
Game #3: USSSA vs. UCLA
*The UCLA team are all UCLA alumni, and included Garrett Atkins (1B) who played 8 years in the Big Leagues
Schiraldi opened the game on the mound with 2k’s in the 1st, allowed one hit, and no runs. He gave up 2 hits in the 2nd inning which led to the first UCLA run of the game.
USSSA got on the board in the 4th with a double by Mathisen. Ferriera then singled to advance the runners on 1st and 3rd. Sharp, Batchelor, Rodriguez, and Dewees each walked to get on base, which eventually led to 3 USSSA runs.
Elander took the mound in the 5th and had 2 strikeouts. He came back with one more strikeout in the 6th, which led to a scoreless inning.
The 6th inning was great fundamental baseball by USSSA. Rodriguez led the inning with a single, followed by Wabick with a sacrifice bunt. Dewees reached on a fielder choice to make it 1st and 3rd with one out. Hodge followed with a sacrifice fly to right to tie the game at 4
Elander came out of the game in the 8th with no outs and runners on second and third (single and then double). He has 2 earned runs to his credit. Montes came in and let the runners score (wild pitch and single). After a Montes walk, Juday came into relief with no outs in the 8th and 2nd and 3rd. Base hit scored another run for UCLA and some defensive miscues led to a 9-4 score going into the bottom of the 8th.
Cody sharp had a 2RBI single in the 9th. Mathisen and Rodriguez each had 2 hits.
Final Score: UCLA 10 - USSSA 6
Game #4: France vs USSSA
Lawrence opened the game for USSSA and threw a perfect bottom of the 1st and again in the 2nd. In the top of 3rd inning Montes was hit by a pitch and advanced on a wild pitch, Trey Rodriguez drove him in with a 2-out RBI single to make the score 1-0. Lawrence came back to throw another perfect inning in the 3rd. USSSA scored 4 more runs in the 4th. Wyatt led off with a hit and advanced on a passed ball, Elander drove him in with his second hit off the day. Elander ran the bases great and ended up scoring on an overthrow to third. Matty Ferriera walked and Hodge reached on an error making it second and third. Jorge Montes hit a laser beam to center for a sac lineout. Donny Dewees then had a 2-out RBI single to make the score five to nothing.
Bottom of the 4th, France led off the inning with a double and ended up scoring on an error (hitter advanced to second with the error). A throwing error by Lawrence led to the 2nd France run of the inning to make the score 5-2.
Wyatt Mathieson had tremendous base running to steal 3rd in the 5th; however no runs were scored. Bottom of the 5th inning saw a GREAT throw by Chris Elander to gun down a runner trying to score from 2nd on a base hit. Lawrence came out of the game with 2-outs in the 5th inning (threw a great game and really stepped up for USSSA). Milliman enters with the bases loaded and 2-outs. He struck out the hitter to end the inning.
Bottom of the 7th, team France hit a leadoff double and advanced on a passed ball, they scored on a sac fly to make the game 5-3. Milliman threw a perfect 8th inning. Elander played outstanding both at the plate (3-4) and in the field. Milliman threw outstanding and finished the game 5-3 to give USSSA the win. Elander, Milliman, and Lawrence each really stepped up to give USSSA the win
Final Score: 5-3 (USSSA)
Game #5: Czech Republic 18u National Team vs. USSSA
USSSA dominated against the 18u Czech National Team. Bryant Hodge opened on the mound for USSSA and threw a complete shutout through 7 innings to advance USSSA to the semifinals.
Hodge set the tone early by having a perfect top of the first inning. Dewees led off in the bottom of the 1st with a double to get USSSA off to a great offensive start. A hit by Rodriguez, hbp (hit by pitch) Newman, and singles by Mathieson and Elander led to the first 2 runs of the game. Groundout RBI by Batchelor and a single by Ferriera made the score 4-0 (USSSA).
Hodge had another perfect top of the 2nd. Bottom of the 2nd was led off with two straight hits from Rodriguez and Newman. Mathieson got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Batchelor followed with a sac fly to right to bring the score to 5-0 (USSSA). Ferriera then stepped to the plate and hit a monstrous 3-run HR to make the score 8-0.
Hodge threw another perfect inning in the 3rd & 4th.
In the bottom of the 4th, Batchelor came up with a big 2-out RBI double to make the score 9-0 (USSSA). Juday followed with an RBI single to right to widen the lead to 10-0.
Hodge threw a 7-inning shutout to advance USSSA to the semifinals, and help save the team’s additional pitching staff for tomorrow. The offense really showed up today and every person in the lineup contributed to the 10-0 win against the Czech Republic (18u)
USSSA will play in the semifinals tomorrow morning at 10:30am. The opponent has not been named. If USSSA wins, they will advance to the championship game at 6:00pm
Final Score: 10-0 (USSSA)
Game #6 USSSA vs AIST
Semi Final Game
* Zach Brown starting pitcher for USSSA
Bottom of the 1st: A two-out walk to the three hitter ended up resulting in the first run of the game for Aist when the four hitter hit a slicing bloop double to right. Two walks in a row loaded the bases and AIST brought their seven hitter to the plate. For the second time in the inning the AIST hitter sliced a ball to right, which resulted in a 2-RBI double which expanded the lead 3-0.
Olsen came in to start the bottom of the 2nd inning for USSSA and the inning started with two bloop singles by Aist in a row. A stolen base positioned Aist runners at 2nd & 3rd with no outs. A soft liner to left drove in the two base runners to make the score 5-0. A walk and an error led to the bases being loaded when AIST brought their five hitter to the plate, who lofted a ball to center for a sacrifice fly which made the score 6-0.
In the top of the 3rd, USSSA cut the lead to 4 with a walk to Rodriguez followed by an error. Wyatt Mathieson stepped up to bat and hit a rocket double down the left field line to make the score 6-2.
Ferriera entered to pitch for USSSA in the bottom of the 3rd. A 2-out walk followed by two soft singles made the score 7-2.
Top of the 5th-inning for USSSA was led off by a single from Dewees. LJ Newman followed with a line drive single to the gap and great base running by Dewees made it 1st and 3rd with no outs. An error by the shortstop led to a run to score and close the gap 7-3.
Mathieson came in and threw the bottom of the 8th-inning and left one man stranded on 1st (let up a bloop base hit).
USSSA lost 7-3. Luck was, for the second time this tournament, with the opposing team. USSSA fought hard and Matty Ferriera stepped up on the mound to keep the game close for USSSA. LJ Newman stood out offensively as he hit three balls right on the screws (two for hits). Overall, USSSA represented well and did their country proud against older, more experienced teams