Tagged: 16U National Team
WORLD CHAMPS! USA defeats Cuba 7-6
Trailing 6-5 in the top of the ninth, Team USA scored two runs and closed out the bottom half of the inning to capture the gold medal at the 2009 IBAF ‘AA’ World Youth Championships with a 7-6 come-from-behind win over Cuba on Sunday night at Intercontinental Stadium.
The U.S. won its fourth straight international gold medal. In the last four years, the Americans are 31-0. The last U.S. loss was to Cuba in the gold medal game at the 2005 world championship in Monterrey, Mexico.
Leftfielder Austin Cousino (Dublin, Ohio) drew a one-out walk to start the top of the ninth. Shortstop Francisco Lindor (Clermont, Fla.) then singled up the middle to move Cousino to third. After Lindor stole second, second baseman Kevin Kramer (Turlock, Calif.) lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Cousino and moving Lindor to third. Catcher Evan Powell (Lake Charles, La.) then drove in the game-winning run with a double to left.
Cousino earned Tournament MVP honors, was named one of the top three outfielders and had the most RBIs (18) in the tournament. Centerfielder JoMarcos Woods (Orlando, Fla.) was also named as one of the top three outfielders and finished the tournament with the highest batting average (.667) and most runs scored (19). Cory Geisler (Spring, Texas) was named the tournament’s best left-handed pitcher and Lindor was named the best shortstop.
For a full recap, please click here: http://web.usabaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090823&content_id=6575422&vkey=recap_usab
USA vs. Cuba Starting Lineups & Live Stats
Here are the starting lineups for tonight’s game between the USA and Cuba…
United States vs Cuba
Aug 23, 2009 at Taichung, Taiwan (Intercontinental)
United States 7-0
## Pos B/T Player
1. 4 lf L/L Austin Cousino
2. 12 ss B/R Francisco Lindor
3. 5 2b L/R Kevin Kramer
4. 11 c R/R Evan Powell
5. 25 rf R/R Albert Almora
6. 13 3b R/R C.J. Hinojosa
7. 2 1b R/R Ricky Jacquez
8. 14 p L/L Kenny Mathews
9. 3 cf L/L JoMarcos Woods
Today’s starter
United States – Kenny Mathews: 1-0
Cuba 7-0
## Pos B/T Player
1. 2 ss R/R Andy Ibanez
2. 12 2b R/R Lourdes Gourriel
3. 23 1b L/L Gulliermo Aviles
4. 10 3b R/R Lazaro Hernandez
5. 5 rf R/R Raydel Medina
6. 56 cf R/R Yasiel Balaguert
7. 1 lf R/R Roberto Baldoquin
8. 38 p L/L Darien Nunez
9. 25 c R/R Iran Falcon
Today’s starters
Cuba – Darien Nunez: 1-0
Live stats will be available during the game… http://web.usabaseball.com/stats/livestats.jsp
The Way It Should Be
It’s Cuba day. That’s always a great day, and even moreso when you get a chance to play them with a World Championship on the line. They’ll be in their reds, and we’ll be in our cuba-killer gray-blue combo that’s worked so well on many different levels the past few years.
This game will be tough, but it should be when somebody comes out the other side with the Gold Medal of a World Champion around their neck. We are better than they are and we have scouted harder than they have. But we need to go and back that up with our best effort. That didn’t happen last night and Mexico gave us fits when I really think they were happy settling for a loss and trying to beat Venezuela for the bronze the next day.
I was not happy last night and I’m glad I gave it a night before I shared my thoughts about our performance on this blog. Hopefully we are refocussed and want this more than anything we’ve ever wanted before. I know Cuba does and they’ll play like it. If we do we’ll be fine and we’ll peel ourselves off of each other on the dogpile and get a chance to taste that Gold Medal porridge on the plane ride home.
USA defeats Mexico, 9-5
John Hochstatter (Danville, Calif.) came in to pitch with Team USA hanging on to a 7-5 lead in the top of the seventh and retired all seven batters he faced over the final 2 1/3 innings to lead the Americans to a 9-5 win over Mexico on Saturday night at Intercontinental Stadium.
Hochstatter picked up his first save after holding Mexico hitless, while registering three strikeouts.
For a full recap, please click here: http://web.usabaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090822&content_id=6556968&vkey=recap_usab
USA vs. Mexico Starting Lineups & Live Stats
Here are the starting lineups for today’s game between the USA and Mexico…
Mexico vs United States
Aug 22, 2009 at Taichung, Taiwan (Intercontinental)
Mexico 4-2
## Pos B/T Player
1. 3 lf R/R Javier Ruiz
2. 13 3b R/L Fernando Perez
3. 32 ss R/R Manuel Del Paez
4. 18 1b R/R Hiram Gutierrez
5. 51 cf R/R Adolfo Lopez
6. 10 rf R/R Youeamot Cota
7. 29 2b R/R Juan Leal
8. 12 c R/R Benjamin Barragan
9. 31 p R/R Carlos Rodriguez
Today’s starter
Mexico – Carlos Rodriguez: 1-0
United States 6-0
## Pos B/T Player
1. 4 lf L/L Austin Cousino
2. 12 ss B/R Francisco Lindor
3. 5 2b L/R Kevin Kramer
4. 11 c R/R Evan Powell
5. 25 rf R/R Albert Almora
6. 13 3b R/R C.J. Hinojosa
7. 14 1b L/L Kenny Mathews
8. 7 p L/R Parker French
9. 3 cf L/L JoMarcos Woods
Today’s starter
United States – Parker French: 1-0
Live stats will be available during the game… http://web.usabaseball.com/stats/livestats.jsp
Seams: Falling apart at them and binding them up tighter than they were before
That’s not the way it was supposed to happen. We didn’t take them for granted. We knew they’d be playing for the pride of their nation and fans on top of a chance to play for a medal, and we knew they were a strong team. We had our ace on the hill and we were focused. Then three walks, one hit batter, seven(!) dinky singles, three(!) uncharacteristic errors, and a whole lot of “what just happened?” happened and we were down 8-0.
I can’t really explain it. I was watching it from right behind home plate, but i can’t explain it. We fell apart at the seams. This wasn’t the 16U National Team. Not the one I’ve known the past three weeks, at least. The previous 24 hours, all I could think 
about was taking care of business against Taipei, then taking care of business against whoever was next, and then getting the chance to play under the lights on Sunday night for a Gold Medal; and then for the first 3 innings all I could think about was how to apologize to my boss and coworkers for guiding a team that would now have the chance to be crowned fifth best in the world. That doesn’t happen. That can’t happen. The organization and so many other great people invest too much time, effort, and money for that to happen. I would have been sick for a long, long time.
I knew we were capable of a comeback, I just didn’t know how plausible it would be on this day. I certainly wasn’t giving up hope, but we weren’t us to start that game. Us had it in us to come back, but, again, we weren’t us.
But just as they’ve done all tournament long, JoJo and Cous sparked the fire. As Cous was rounding third after his bomb to center field to put us on the board at 8-2, I took a look over at the dugout and could tell that they believed. IBAF regulations require players to remain in the dugout following a homer, because otherwise the guys would have been circling the bases right along with him. Us was back.
From that point on, we righted the ship, chipped away with good at-bat after good at-bat driving the ball into the gaps, caught the ball in the field, and hopped on Cory’s back for the next 6 innings.
Cory was amazing. We knew we wanted to go with Ricky and Cory against them because Ricky would shove it and Cory would shut the door because they were afraid of him. 
We just didn’t think he’d have to shut the door on them while holding it open for us, but that’s exactly what he did.
This team is galvanized now. You don’t go through that and not become stronger. We were a “team” already. We enjoyed each other, trusted each other, supported each other, but now that bond is even tighter because we know we can do just about anything as a team together; all 27 of us pulling that rope in the same direction.
We’ve got a tough one against Mexico tonight. They love to play the role of spoiler, and I love to beat them. They will be ready and they can swing the bat, but so will we and so can we.
We’ve got a screening of “Miracle” after lunch, and then it’s back to work on a 3:30 pm bus to the yard. The comeback was amazing yesterday, but let’s leave that one for yesterday. Ideally, this one will go a little more like it’s supposed to and we’ll be where we should be on Sunday night.
Geisler Pitches USA Past Chinese Taipei, 11-8
Team USA overcame an early 8-0 deficit and relief pitcher Cory Geisler (Spring, Texas) shut Chinese Taipei down over the final 6 1/3 innings to lead the Americans to an 11-8 win on Friday afternoon at Intercontinental Stadium.
Geisler (1-0) came on in relief in the third inning with the U.S. trailing 5-0 and two men on base and held Taipei to just one unearned run over the final 6 1/3 innings. Geisler struck out 11 batters and walked none while giving up six hits.
For a full recap, please click here: http://web.usabaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090821&content_id=6536182&vkey=recap_usab
USA vs. Chinese Taipei Starting Lineups & Live Stats
Here are the starting lineups for today’s game between the USA and Chinese Taipei…
Chinese Taipei vs United States
Aug 21, 2009 at Taichung, Taiwan (Intercontinental)
Chinese Taipei 2-3
## Pos B/T Player
1. 16 cf R/R Pi Li An
2. 8 rf R/L Chia-Wen Lin
3. 5 3b R/R Li-Jen Chu
4. 10 1b R/L Kun-Yu Wen
5. 4 ss R/L Tzu-Wei Lin
6. 12 c R/R Chin-Lun Chang
7. 15 lf R/R Ching-Yu Tseng
8. 11 p R/R Jyun-Long Jhang
9. 6 2b R/L Yung-Cheng Hsu
Today’s starter
Chinese Taipei – Jyun-Long Jhang: 1-0
United States 5-0
## Pos B/T Player
1. 4 lf L/L Austin Cousino
2. 12 ss B/R Francisco Lindor
3. 5 2b L/R Kevin Kramer
4. 11 c R/R Evan Powell
5. 25 rf R/R Albert Almora
6. 13 3b R/R C.J. Hinojosa
7. 2 p R/R Ricky Jacquez
8. 14 1b L/L Kenny Mathews
9. 3 cf L/L JoMarcos Woods
Today’s starter
United States – Ricky Jacquez: 1-0
Live stats will be available during the game… http://web.usabaseball.com/stats/livestats.jsp
USA tosses two-hitter in 11-1 win over Korea
Parker French (Dripping Springs, Texas), Dylan Davis (Redmond, Wash.) and Hayden Hurst (Jacksonville, Fla.) combined to throw a two-hitter and Team USA used a seven-run second inning en route to an 11-1 win over Korea on Wednesday afternoon at Taichung Stadium.
French (1-0) picked up the win after tossing four hitless innings with five strikeouts. Davis allowed an unearned run on one hit in two innings of work with two strikeouts and Hurst struck out two in a scoreless seventh.
For a full recap, please click here: http://web.usabaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090819&content_id=6501454&vkey=recap_usab
Team USA donates to typhoon relief fund
The USA Baseball 16U National Team, in Taichung, Taiwan for the 2009 IBAF “AA” World Youth Baseball Championship, took up a collection among players, staff and parents and raised over $500 that will be donated to the Typhoon Morakot relief effort in Taiwan.
Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan on Aug. 8 and dumped 83 inches of rain on parts of the island, unleashing the worst flooding there in half a century, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
USA Baseball vowed to match anything up to $500. The team donated over $1,000 total to the relief effort.
The USA Baseball 16U Blog 