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The U.S. Olympic baseball team used strong pitching and hitting Sunday to beat Canada, 9-1, in an exhibition game at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.
Brandon Knight struck out 10 and the U.S. team hit four home runs. The U.S. has outscored Canada, 16-3, during the first three games of a series that ends Monday night with a final meeting in Durham.
Knight, the 32-year-old Mets farmhand who is the oldest athlete on the U.S. team, allowed just two hits during five scoreless innings. He retired 15 of 18 hitters, and struck out six in a row before Emmanuel Garcia — the last batter he faced — flew out to center field.
“Once I started throwing my breaking ball for a strike, that makes my fastball a little bit better,” Knight told the Associated Press. “It’s not like I can blow people away with what I have, but once I get the breaking ball over, it helps out a little bit.”
Matt LaPorta and Mike Hessman homered in the second inning, Nate Schierholtz hit a grand slam in the eighth and Terry Tiffee also homered.
“It takes a game or two to get on a roll,” Schierholtz told the AP. “The last two games, everyone on this team can hit, so it was just a matter of time before we came around and started scoring some runs for the pitchers.”
-- Greg Johnson
Photo: Canada's third baseman Matt Rogelstad throws the ball to first base for an out during the first inning of an exhibition baseball game against the United States in Durham, N.C., on Sunday. Credit: Gerry Broome/Associated Press
Matt Brown drove in four runs and starting pitcher Trevor Cahill threw four scoreless innings on Saturday night as the U.S. men's Olympic baseball team defeated Canada, 7-2, in an exhibition game at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.
The U.S. squad bounced back a day after losing, 4-3, to Canada in 10 innings in the opener of a four-game series. The teams will play two more in Durham before heading to the Beijing Games.
Cahill cruised through four innings, giving up only a first-inning single to Stubby Clapp and was credited with the win. U.S. Manager Davey Johnson pulled Cahill after four as planned.
Jimmy Cummings gave up two runs and three hits in four innings, and Casey Weathers worked a perfect ninth inning.
Brown, who went one for 13 with two runs batted in during a five-game stint a while back with the Angels, was two for three Saturday night.
Canada starter Brooks McNiven gave up five earned runs and eight hits during six innings on the mound.
-- Greg Johnson
Photo: Brian Barden of the U.S. national team is safe at second despite the efforts of Canada's Stubby Clapp during the third inning of an exhibition baseball game at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Saturday Credit: Elyssa Sharp/Associated Press Photo/The Herald-Sun
Scott Thorman’s two-out double in the top of the 10th led Canada to a 4-3 win over the U.S. Olympic baseball team on Friday in Cary, N.C. The two teams will play three more "friendlies" before heading to the Beijing Games.
Canada’s Stubby Clapp reached base on a one-out walk with the game deadlocked at 3-3 in the 10th inning. With two outs and Clapp on second, Thorman hit a double down the right field line to put the Canadians on top by a run.
Right-handed reliever David Davidson entered for Canada in the bottom of the 10th and set down all three U.S. batters to close out the game. Reliever Scott Richmond earned the win after hurling two innings and allowing one run on one hit while striking out three batters.
USA reliever Jeff Stevens took the loss after 1.2 innings of work. He allowed one run on one hit with three strikeouts and two walks. Matt LaPorta and Brian Barden homered and Terry Tiffee added an RBI double for the U.S.
Canada came back in the eighth from a two-run deficit on Mike Saunders’ two-run double and Barden tied the game at 3-3 with a home run.
The teams will play three more games (the first is Saturday night) at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park before departing for the Beijing Games.
-- Greg Johnson
Photo: Caden Bow, 6, of Cary, N.C., seeks an autograph from U.S. Olympic team member Jason Nix before a game against Canada. Credit: Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer
San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg struck out nine batters over seven innings and Kyle Gibson and Kendal Volz combined to complete the shutout as the USA Baseball national team defeated the Chinese-Taipei national team 3-0 earlier today in FISU World Championship play.
The semifinals win at Metsky Stadium in Brno, Czech Republic, qualified the U.S. for Sunday's gold-medal contest against the winner of tonight's game between Korea and Japan.
The U.S. team improved to 23-0 during its ongoing tour. Strasburg, a right-hander, is on the roster for the Beijing Games-bound U.S. Olympics team.
Strasberg let Chih-Hsiang Lin single to lead off the game, but retired the next eight batters in succession. Chih-Hsiang led off the sixth with a double but was left stranded at third when the inning ended.
Team USA took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second after Matt den Dekker beat out a potential double-play ball, allowing Micah Gibbs to score from third. Gibbs added an RBI ground-out in the sixth. A pair of doubles with two out in the seventh by Josh Fellhauer and Blake Davis pushed the U.S. lead to 3-0.
The win was the 10th victory in a row for the U.S. over Taipei, and the fifth shutout in 23 games for U.S. pitchers.
-- Greg Johnson
Photo: Stephen Strasburg pitching against Chinese-Taipei on July 12 while on his way to a 5-2 victory. Credit: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen AFP/Getty Images
Extra innings during Beijing Olympic baseball games will have something extra.
The rules will stay the same for the first 10 innings, but if a contest stretches into an 11th inning, each team would begin its next at-bat with runners on first and second. Managers also will be allowed to start the 11th at any point in their batting order.
Here's how it would work, according to the Associated Press: A manager who chooses to lead off the 11th with the club's No. 3 hitter would have to put the No. 1 batter on second base and the No. 2 hitter on first. If there's a 12th inning, it would begin wherever the previous lineup left off -- again with two batters on base and one at the plate.
The changes announced Friday by the International Baseball Federation will go into effect in time for the Beijing Games that begin on Aug. 8.
The changes were made to save time, said federation President Harvey Schiller: "We must demonstrate to the International Olympic Committee [that] not only does our game belong alongside the other great sports of the world, but our sport is manageable from a television and operational standpoint.”
AP reports that USA Baseball executive director Paul Seiler initially opposed the change, but he gradually came around.
"The traditionalist in me says, 'no way,' " Seiler said. "But you know, in the Olympics, where you have [a] finite amount of time to get your program finished [and] the early game goes 15, 16, 17 innings, then what does that do? Television is affected, transportation is affected — a lot of logistical things that we don’t have to worry about on a Friday night in Durham. It’s a domino" effect.
-- Greg Johnson
Photo: The Beijing Wukesong Sports Center Baseball Field and the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium are ready for the Games. Credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images
 Ever wonder what goes into preparing a baseball team for the Olympics? Paul Seiler, executive director and chief executive of USA Baseball, took part earlier today in a conference call with reporters about preparations for the Beijing Games.
Here are some of his thoughts:
"The importance of every game, of every inning, almost of every pitch becomes magnified in these formats where we are playing seven games in pool play and the top four records go to the medal round. There are tie-breakers and different things, so when you have an opportunity to 10-run (rule) somebody, that means you are saving two innings of pitching for your staff and your bullpen."
"Where in the course of a minor league or big league season, you play 162 games, it is a different mental approach, 'Well, we'll get them tomorrow.' Well, tomorrow in the international venue takes on a whole different meaning."
"All the other stuff will fall into place, in terms of travel, housing. We have that covered. What we really need to do is get 24 strangers together, make them understand that this is different than being a Rockie, or a Philly, or a Met or a Durham Bull or a Tampa Ray, and you now represent the United States."
"It's a different responsibility, a different honor, and it's going to be very exciting if we end up where our goal is at the end of this thing. This will be something these athletes and this staff will never forget for the rest of their lives. These 24 players are being presented with a very unique opportunity and one in which we think will be the highlight of their career, no matter what they do on the professional level."
Photo: San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg is a member of the U.S. Olympics baseball team. Credit: San Diego State file photo
Two former major leaguers were among the four players added earlier today to the Beijing-bound U.S. Olympic baseball team. Three are replacements for players who were injured or called up to the big leagues over the weekend. The fourth fills out the 24-man squad.
Colorado Rockies infielder Jayson Nix, currently playing for the team's triple A affiliate, was named to the final spot on the team. Former San Francisco Giants outfielder Nate Schierholtz, along with minor league pitchers Jeremy Cummings of Tampa Bay and Brian Duensing of Minnesota, were selected as replacement players.
The three take roster spots abandoned by White Sox pitcher Clayton Richard and Giants pitcher Geno Espineli, who recently were promoted to the majors, and St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus, who is injured.
Schierholtz, hitting .310 with 13 homers and 62 RBI at triple-A Fresno, has the most big-league experience of the four, having hit .304 in 112 at-bats last season. Nix and Duensing, meanwhile, both played for Team USA in last fall's World Cup, when the U.S. beat Cuba to win its first World Cup in 33 years.
Also back on the team is Texas Rangers prospect Taylor Teagarden. The catcher was among the original selections to the team, but lost his spot over the weekend after being called up to the big leagues. When the Rangers optioned him back to the minors on Monday, he wound up back on the Olympic team.
-- Kevin Baxter
Photo: Jayson Nix of the Colorado Rockies breaks up a double play against Adam Kennedy of the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on April 1 in St. Louis. Credit: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images
The USA baseball team overcame an early deficit and scored multiple runs during three different innings earlier today on its way to a 9-3 victory over Japan in a pool-play game at the FISU World Championships at Mestsky Stadium in Brno, Czech Republic.
The win improved the U.S. record to 5-0 in FISU pool play and 21-0 on its ongoing summer tour. The victory made the U.S. the top seed going into this weekend’s tournament portion of the FISU World Championships.
Japan's Keijiro Matsumoto doubled in a run in the bottom of the first inning, but the U.S. rallied for a four-run second. Japan pulled to within one run at 4-3, scoring single runs in the second and third innings. But the U.S. responded with three runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batsman in the top of the fifth, and added a pair of runs in the seventh.
U.S. starter Chris Hernandez earned the victory, allowing three runs (two of them earned) on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts over 6.1 innings. Kyle Gibson (Greenfield, Ind.) had three strikeouts and one hit over 1.2 innings. Kendal Volz (Bulverde, Texas) added a perfect ninth inning with one strikeout in a non-save situation.
Team USA's final FISU pool play game comes on Thursday (1:30 a.m. PST) against Chinese-Taipei, again at Mestsky Stadium. The U.S. has won the eight previous match-ups.
-- Greg Johnson
It is possible to interpret a Major League Baseball official's statement about the sport's presence in future Olympics as an attempt to pressure the International Olympic Committee into selecting Chicago or Tokyo as the 2016 Summer Games host.
Chicago and Tokyo boosters can only hope that is not what Bob Watson intended when he spoke during Wednesday's teleconference to announce the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. But it would not be a stretch to read Watson's comments that way.
The Olympic news website Around the Rings (subscription required) did, headlining its story "Major League Baseball Makes Pitch for Chicago, Tokyo for 2016 Olympics."
One thing is sure: IOC members react negatively to any attempts at pressuring them, especially when such attempts come from the United States. And particularly when they come from a sport like baseball, which has utterly no leverage in the Olympic movement as it prepares for its final scheduled appearance at the Beijing Games.
Watson holds the titles of Major League Baseball's vice-president of on-field operations and USA Baseball general manager of professional teams.
Here's what he said, as transcribed from a recording of the call: "MLB and the IBAF [International Baseball Federation] and the IOC are working diligently to have a system where our big leaguers are playing. I think if Chicago or Tokyo would win the Olympics for 2016, I think those countries are baseball countries, they have venues.
"I believe they're trying to work up something. You've got two years [before an IOC decision on adding sports] to get the plan together. There are lot of moving parts in this, but don’t rule it out. Instead of a three-day break for [the] All-Star Game, you might end up having a four- or five-day break, and get all the games in, some kind of way, and using major leaguers.
"It's not too premature to say they've got the minds turning, trying to work things out. I think some of the obstacles, [like] drug testing, we definitely have met a lot of those requirements. I think the other thing is that we are putting on a real good showing around the world with baseball, and I believe the Olympics are going to definitely want to have baseball back in the fold. We have the World [Baseball] Classic now, and that popularity is only going to grow. We feel baseball is going to get back into the Olympics.''
The IOC in 2005 voted baseball off the Olympic program, meaning that the Beijing Games could be the sport's Olympic swan song. The next chance for baseball to be reinstated would be immediately after the IOC chooses the 2016 host on Oct. 2, 2009. Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro are the candidates.
The IOC's reasons for dropping baseball include the sport's unwillingness to interrupt its season so major leaguers could play during the Games. The IOC also had questions about doping because MLB's doping program remains something of a joke by Olympic standards.
A day before Watson spoke, baseball commissioner Bud Selig told reporters that discussions with the IOC were "ongoing." He seemed to rule out any extended shutdown for the Olympics.
If the Games were in Tokyo, the travel and time difference involved would likely involve a shutdown of the season for at least a week.
It would be ironic if such statements as Watson's came back to haunt Chicago or Tokyo, since baseball adds nothing to the Summer Games. The Games already have too many sports (soccer, tennis, men's basketball) in which an Olympic gold medal is a secondary prize to trophies like the World Cup, Wimbledon and NBA title.
And baseball will do just fine without the Olympics.
-- Philip Hersh
Cuba's Fidel Castro is angry that next month's Beijing Games will be the last Olympics for baseball.
An avid fan of the game, the ailing former president today blasted the "rich and powerful masters" of the Olympics for dropping baseball beginning in 2012, and said two recent defeats at the hands of the U.S. team doesn’t mean Cuba can’t still win gold in Beijing.
The Associated Press said that Castro, in a brief but confusing essay, noted the "thundering indignation of the fans because of Saturday’s hard defeat," apparently referring to Cuba’s 4-1 loss to the U.S. during Sunday's title game at the 24th Haarlem Baseball Week in the Netherlands.
Cuba has nevertheless won three of the four Olympic gold medals since baseball became a medal sport in 1992 — settling for silver in 2000, when it was upset by the U.S.
Castro, 81, wrote that the latest incarnation of the national team has "not been defeated."
"We haven’t given up on them," he wrote. "We send them a message to raise their spirits."
The AP said he went on to suggest that jet lag could hurt Cuba’s chances during the Beijing Games, stating that members of the national team "do not deserve major criticisms if something does not go right."
"They are going to the Olympic Games, which will be played on the other side of the world, where sleeping patterns and the rhythm of life changes," he wrote.
-- Debbie Goffa
Photo: In 2000, Cuba's Fidel Castro, center, jokes with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a baseball game between their two countries in Venezuela. Credit: Fernando Llano / Associated Press
 The 24-man team the United States will take to Beijing for what could be the final Olympic baseball tournament will be long on experience with 14 of the players selected Wednesday currently playing at the triple A level, the highest level of minor league play.
The roster also includes seven double A players, one single A minor leaguer and a collegian. Check out the complete roster.
Among those is Dodger minor leaguers Terry Tiffee, an infielder, and Mike Koplove, a pitcher, and the Angels’ Kevin Jepsen, a pitcher, and Matt Brown, an infielder. All are former major leaguers now playing in the triple A Pacific Coast League.
The team will be managed by former Dodger skipper Davey Johnson.
“We knew we wanted to build a veteran club, a team of players who have been battled-tested, so to speak,” said Bob Watson, USA Baseball’s general manager of professional teams. “But we wanted younger prospects as well, players who have the fire to go out and showcase their talents on the international stage.”
The pitching staff will be headed by San Diego State sophomore right-hander Stephen Strasburg, 19, who struck out 23 batters in a game against Utah in April. He had two victories for a team of U.S. college all-stars, which won the gold medal at the Haarlem Baseball Week tournament in the Netherlands earlier this month. That team registered two victories over the powerful Cuban national team.
The offense will be led by Cleveland Indians prospect Matt LaPorta, who was recently traded by the Milwaukee Brewers in the CC Sabathia deal. Baseball America magazine ranks the outfielder, a member of the 2005 U.S. national team, as the top prospect in his new organization.
Ten players are from California, including Jepsen (Anaheim), Strasburg (San Diego), right-hander Trevor Cahill (Oceanside) and infielders Brandon Knight (Oxnard) and Mike Hessman (Fountain Valley).
Players on a major league team’s 25-man roster were not eligible for selection to the Olympic team. Beijing will make the ninth team Team USA has used professional players internationally, dating to the 1999 Pan American Games. During that time the U.S. has won one Olympic gold, at Sydney in 2000. The U.S. did not qualify for the baseball competition at the most recent Olympic Games in 2004 in Athens.
The U.S. begins play in China on Aug. 13 against Korea and will meet Cuba in its third game of the eight-team tournament two days later.
-- Kevin Baxter
Photo: Terry Tiffee hits a single in the tenth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium on May 25. Credit: Gary A. Vasquez / US Presswire
Cal State Fullerton's Jared Clark homered in the top of the sixth to break a 1-1 tie as the U.S. national team defeated Cuba 4-1 today in the championship game of the 24th Haarlem Baseball Week in the Netherlands.
The U.S. improved to 14-0 on the 2008 tour and finished 7-0 in the Haarlem Baseball Week.
The Cuban team is the same team, minus one player, that won the silver medal in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and the gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics. It also is the same team that will compete in the Beijing Games.
Today's victory marked the first time, according to the USA Baseball, that a U.S. collegiate national team defeated the Cuban Olympic team in a tournament title game. The Americans also beat Cuba 1-0 last Sunday.
A two-out error allowed Cuba to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. With runners at first and second, Alfredo Despaigne lined a single to left, but left fielder Josh Fellhauer, also from Cal State Fullerton, misplayed the ball, allowing a run to score. But the U.S. got out of the inning on the very next pitch when first baseman Clark made a diving grab on a line drive in foul territory.
Cal's Blake Smith led off the top of the fifth with a solo home run, tying the game.
Cuba starter Adiel Palma did not factor in the decision. He allowed one run on six hits and one walk with three strikeouts over 4.2 innings.
The U.S. team plays the German national team on Tuesday.
-- Debbie Goffa
The future was on display this afternoon in Yankee Stadium, as minor league players with Olympic aspirations played in the annual XM All-Star Futures game.
Homegrown prospects who hope to make the U.S. Olympic baseball team, however, were shut out, 3-0, by a club made up of prospects from elsewhere in the world.
Nine pitchers from the World team held the Americans to three hits over nine innings. Boston Red Sox prospect Che-Hsuan Lin (Taiwan) was named most valuable player after hitting a two-run home run in the seventh inning.
Bloomberg reported that fans in New York booed Lin for wearing a Red Sox cap during an on-field interview after the game, which served as the opening game in baseball's All-Star break.
This afternoon's game was the last tryout for U.S. players hoping to make the trip to Beijing next month. The roster will be set by USA Baseball officials.
-- Greg Johnson
Photo: Ivan DeJesus of the Dodgers celebrates with Che-Hsuan Lin during the XM All-Stars Future game today in Yankee Stadium. Credit: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
Ryan Jackson of Miami went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Stephen Strasburg of San Diego struck out 11 batters over 7 innings today as the USA baseball team defeated the Chinese-Taipei national team 5-2 in a semifinal game during Haarlem Baseball Week in the Netherlands.
The U.S. is now 13-0 on its 2008 tour and will go up against Cuba in Sunday’s championship game. First pitch is scheduled for 6 a.m. PDT.
Jackson scored the first run for the U.S. with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second. Ryan Lipkin of Vacaville followed with an RBI single to cap the two-run second. The U.S. got two more runs in the third on an RBI single from Cal State Fullerton's Josh Fellhauer of Rancho Cucamonga and Jackson’s RBI fielder’s choice.
Kendal Volz out of Baylor Univesity worked around a two-out walk in the ninth for his fourth save in six games in this tournament.
Strasburg moved to 2-0 on the tour, allowing four hits and one walk.
Lipkin finished the game 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Cal State Fullerton's Jared Clark, who's from Castaic, was 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored.
-- Debbie Goffa
Photo: Stephen Strasburg throws against the Chinese-Taipei national team in the Netherlands. Credit: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen /Agence France-Presse / Getty Images
Five-time Olympic swimming medalist Janet Evans will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Wednesday night before the Dodgers go against the Atlanta Braves at Chavez Ravine.
Evans grabbed five Olympic golds, six U.S. record swim times, 45 national titles, 17 international titles and five NCAA titles.
Other Beijing-bound athletes who will merit similar honors before upcoming Dodgers games include:
July 12: U.S. Cycling's Adam Duvenbeck and U.S. Shotgun and Shooting's Jeff Holguin and Brenda Shinn.
July 13: Members of the Beijing-bound U.S. women's water polo team.
July 25: Members of the U.S. beach volleyball team.
Olympian Lisa Leslie (basketball) was scheduled to throw out tonight's ceremonial first pitch.
--Helene Elliott
Photo: Olympian Janet Evans swimming last year with daughter, Sydney, as part of the LA84 Learn-to-Swim Program. Credit: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times
The U.S. national baseball team shut out Cuba, 1-0, today in international tournament play as part of Haarlem Baseball Week in the Netherlands.
Kendal Volz out of Baylor University caught pinch-hitter Yoandrys Urgelles looking on a 2-2 slider for the third out of the ninth, stranding runners at second and third. The Americans improved their record to 9-0 on its 2008 tour and is the only remaining undefeated team in this tournament.
Pitching and defense dominated the night, with each team collecting on five hits.
Cuba’s scoring chances were hurt by two inning-ending double plays. In the third, U.S. third baseman Tommy Mendonca out of Fresno State started an around-the-hour double play to get the National Team out of a first-and-third, one-out jam. In the fifth, shortstop Ryan Jackson of Miami was falling down but managed to flip to second baseman Christian Colon out of Cal State Fullerton while falling down to start another first-and-third, one-out, inning-ending double play.
Colon had the game-winning hit.
The U.S. team returns to action Tuesday.
-- Debbie Goffa
 The U.S. baseball team keeps on winning, topping the Chinese-Taipei national team ,7-3, tonight at Durham (N.C.) Bulls Athletic Park. It is the fifth straight win for the U.S. men, part of a six-game exhibition series with Chinese-Tapei.
The game was called in the middle of the eighth inning because of rain, but it was the fourth inning that was the clincher for the U.S., after seven batters came to the plate. Christian Colon of Cal State Fullerton opened the inning with a single, the first of five consecutive hits the team had. The final game is set for Monday night.
Separately, USA Baseball today announced that right-hander Brett Hunter of Pepperdine has been named as the final member of the 2008 national team, finalizing the 22-man roster.
Hunter, who was a member of the 2007 national team and posted a 3-0 record with a 0.66 earned-run average in 14 relief appearances last summer, was a standout at Pepperdine this spring, where he was 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in five outings, including four starts.
-- Debbie Goffa
Photo: Brett Hunter Credit: Pepperdine Athletics
 The powerful Cuban national team, among the favorites to strike gold in what could be the Olympics' final baseball tournament, trimmed 11 players from its roster last week and will make one more cut before leaving the island to start its pre-Olympic tour in the Netherlands this weekend.
The team will leave Cuba on Friday. Missing from the Olympic roster, however, is Pan Am Games second baseman Alexei Ramirez, at left, who defected last fall and is now playing for the Chicago White Sox.
The only real surprises were on the pitching staff, where Aroldis Chapman, named the outstanding left-hander in last fall’s World Cup tournament, was sent home in favor of veteran Vicyohandri Odelin.
Neither pitcher performed well in Cuban play this winter, with Chapman going 6-7 with a 3.89 ERA (despite striking out 79 in 74 innings and holding opponents to a .200 batting average) while Odelin was 6-6 with 3.92 ERA. But Odelin survived the preliminary cut because of his extensive international experience.
Also surviving the cut was 38-year-old pitcher Adiel Palma, who beat the U.S. in the gold medal game of last summer’s Pan American Games.
The U.S. Olympic team, which will be composed mainly of minor league prospects, will be named in mid-July.
Get a look at the full Olympic baseball schedule. Play begins Aug. 13, the first week of the Beijing Summer Games.
-- Kevin Baxter
Baseball may still be a developing sport in China, but one member of that country’s Olympic team has already secured his place in the sport’s lore.
Two years ago, in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, catcher Wei Wang hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning of China’s opening-round loss to Japan, making him the first player to homer in WBC history.
“A hundred years from now when the World Baseball Classic is a very popular event, they’ll say who was the first,” said China's manager, Jim Lefebvre, a former National League Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers. “And he’s from China.”
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