The team has outscored opponents 31-5 in four games MAZATLAN, Mexico – In front of a crowd of approximately 2,500 people at the Benito Juarez Sports Complex, the USA Baseball 12U National Team beat Mexico, 5-2, to move to 4-0 in the COPABE Pan American Championships Monday night. Alek Boychuk (Buford, Ga.) stole the show offensively for Team USA and silenced the raucous crowd with four RBIs in the first two innings. He drove in his first run on an RBI-single in the first inning, then followed that up with a towering three-run home run to left field that gave the team a 5-0 lead in the second inning. Boychuk was removed from the game in the fourth inning after getting hit in the head by a pitch. Pete Armstrong (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) got the start on the hill for Team USA and was outstanding once again as he picked up the win by tossing four shutout innings with four strikeouts and three walks. Mexico scored its only two runs of the game in the sixth inning on an RBI-double from Gerardo Cuervas, and on a run-scoring infield single from Roque Salinas, which came off of Hunter Barnhart (Paso Rodes, Calif.). But with Mexico still threatening in the sixth, Barnhart locked in and recorded one of the biggest strikeouts of the game to end the inning. When Mexico recorded its first hit of the game in the fifth inning, it ended a streak of 24 2/3 hitless innings pitched by Team USA, which had thrown no-hitters in its previous three contests. Carson Tucker (Phoenix, Ariz.), who had played the first six innings of the game at shortstop, took over on the mound in the seventh inning and set Mexico down in order to pick up his first save of the tournament. In addition to Boychuk’s strong offensive showing, Robert Moore (Leawood, Kan.) also added two hits, which marked his third multi-hit game of the Pan American Championships. “That was a huge stage for our players today, and they absolutely stepped up to the challenge,” said manager Terrance Freeman. “I thought they really kept their composure and they did a great job of taking the crowd out of the game by jumping out to an early lead. This was a huge win for us, but we still have a long way to go in this tournament. We need to come out focused and energized tomorrow morning so we don’t have a letdown.” With the win, Team USA is now 4-0 in the tournament as Mexico falls to 3-1. Next up on the schedule for the 12U National Team is Nicaragua, with first pitch scheduled for 11:30 am ET Tuesday morning.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 14:00:39 +0000
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