Team USA baseball held the Netherlands to just one hit yesterday with an amazing 11 strikeout performance from the lone college player, Stephen Strasburg, but fell to defending champion Cuba, 5-4 in eleven innings on Friday.
San Ramon Valley alum Nate Schierholtz was 1 for 4 with an RBI double against Cuba.
Outfielder Jayson Nix left the game in the top of the eleventh after he hit a foul ball off his eye. Nix, a key part of the team, is likely to miss the rest of the Olympics.
In baseball, Team USA appeared on the verge of a come-from-behind victory with three runs in the top of the ninth. The lead, however, did not last long, as Korea rallied in the bottom half of the inning to win 8-7.
San Ramon Valley alum Nate Schierholtz went hit a solo home run in the sixth inning and finished the day 1 for 5 (.200). NBC Sports:
Nate Schierholtz also had a solo homer for the U.S. team after hitting four during six exhibition games. The Americans are a medal hopeful after missing out on a bid to the 2004 Athens Games. The U.S. team won gold in Sydney in 2000.
Team USA plays the Netherlands tomorrow at 10:30am Beijing time, Cuba on Friday (11:30am), Canada on Saturday (10:30am), China on Monday (7:00pm), Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) on Tuesday (7:00pm), and Japan on Wednesday (7:00pm).
Semifinals are on Friday, August 22, and the medals will be decided the following day on Saturday, August 23.
Bay Area baseball product and Olympian Nate Schierholtz earned the praise of Team USA assistant coach Reggie Smith. Contra Costa Times:
High on Schierholtz
Former major league slugger and USA baseball assistant coach Reggie Smith likes what he’s seen in Giants prospect Nate Schierholtz, the former San Ramon Valley High star.”I think in time, Nate will prove that he can play and hit at the major league level, if given the opportunity,” Smith said. “The one thing I have seen as a result of kids playing in the Olympics and the caliber of pitching they’re going to see, if they can hit here they’re going to be able to hit at the major-league level as well.”
Schierholtz batted .400 with a triple, two homers and seven RBI in a four-game pre-Olympics series with Canada in North Carolina a week ago. Smith was impressed.
“He showed tremendous power and discipline at the plate,” Smith said. “He puts the ball in play. He has a pretty good walk-strikeout ratio. You look at his average against right-handers and left-handers and it doesn’t seem to be that much different.
“To me, he has the makeup to play at the major-league level.”
One month after the formation of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in 2006, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that baseball and softball were eliminated from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.
Therefore, the team assembled for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing marks the end of American Olympian baseball. Team USA maintains a storied history of impressive squads:
Los Angeles ‘84: 4-1, losing in the bronze medal game to Japan
Seoul, Korea ‘88: 4-1
Barcelona, Spain ‘92: 5-4
Atlanta ‘96: 7-2, defeating Nicaragua in the bronze medal game
Sydney, Australia ‘00: 8-1, defeating Cuba in the gold medal game
Check out the list of ballplayers who will be attempting to recapture the magic of the 2000 team in Sydney:
Tonight, the Summer Olympics opening ceremonies kick off the next few weeks of international competition in Beijing, China.
Thus far, the production is nothing short of absolutely stunning.
The schedule is quite extensive but there are four events that this blogger will keep a close eye on: baseball, basketball, boxing, soccer, or “football” to our non-American friends, and finally, hockey.
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