Olympic Baseball Blog

olympicbaseball March 14th, 2008

After eight days of competition, IBAF Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament is over, South Korea, Canada, Taiwan qualify for Beijing Olympics baseball, Canada finishes first, Taiwan loses to South Korea, finishes third.

“The goal coming in was to qualify for the Olympics,” said Canadian starter Brooks McNiven of Vancouver, “and open everybody else’s eyes that we’re not just cruising into this but that we’re here to win.”

2004 Olympic silver medal winner Australia miss even with a win over South Africa.

“It was tough going out there today and that could certainly be classed as one of the ugliest wins of all time, but there were a few things there really worth noting,” manager Jon Deeble said. “We could very well look back at that game for producing things like James Linger’s first hit for Australia and Brad Tippett’s first win, two things youre likely to see a lot more of for many years to come.”

2008 IBAF Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament Final Recap is here.

WP: Alvarez Ramirez (1-1) LP: Gutierrez Gutierrez (0-1)

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WP: Tippet (1-0) LP: Townend (0-1) HR: Luke Hughes

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WP: Kim, K. H. (2-0) LP: Lee C.-C. (0-1)

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WP: Green (2-0) LP: Fries (1-1)

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olympicbaseball March 13th, 2008

Before last day of IBAF Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Canada and Chinese Taipei won and get the tickets to Beijing, join the Korea who advanced a day early to 2008 Olympics.

The three team will joined the United States, host China, Cuba, Japan and the Netherlands at the Beijing Games 2008 Olympics.

Official Recap is here.

WP: Mowday (1-0) LP: Hernandez Diaz (0-2) HR: Ben Risinger (2inning, 3 runs)

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WP: Ortega Salinas (1-1) LP: Marquez Ramirez (1-1) HR: Carlos Valencia (9inning, 1 run)

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WP: Richmond, S. (2-0) LP: Ryu (0-1) HR: Mattew Rogelstad (2, 1inning, runs), Nicholas Weglarz (3, 4 inning, 1 run)

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WP: Chiang (2-1) LP: Armitage (0-2) HR: Chih-Hsien Chiang (7 inning, 1 run)

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olympicbaseball March 12th, 2008

After one day rest, Korea get the ticket to Beijing by winning five streak, Virtually Clinches the Olympic Berth. And Canada also closing in on a trip to Beijing Games, won a ticket by thumps Spain in Olympic baseball qualifier.

Taiwan shuts out Australia in crucial games, clears way to Olympic Games, a win against South Africa will assure Taiwan of a spot in the Olympics.

For Australia, life is not so good, especially after they lost to Chinese Taipei. They need to beat Spain and South Africa and rely on Canada dropping their final games against Korea and minnows Germany. NATIONAL coach Jon Deeble has slammed the international baseball federation and accused rival countries of conspiring to ensure reigning Olympic silver medallists Australia didn’t qualify for Beijing.

WP: Son, M. H. (2-0) LP: Henkenjohann (0-2) HR: Donald Lutz (2 inning, 1 run)
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WP: Periard (2-0) LP: Leal (0-1) HR: Nicholas Weglarz (2, 3 inning, 1 run)
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WP: Campos Machado (1-0) LP: Mostert (0-1) HR: Karim Garcia 2 (1, 4inning 2runs, 2, 8inning 2 runs)
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WP: Yang (2-0) LP: Mildren (1-1)
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olympicbaseball March 9th, 2008

Day three of the 2008 IBAF Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament is ended, Australia still in the baseball action, Taiwan downs Germany according to CNA and Taipei Times, CBC sports and Canadian press write about Canada’s baseball team loses, and Korea won again.

The official recap is here.

WP: Chang (1-0) LP: Hughes (0-1)
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WP: Kent (1-0) LP: McNiven (0-1) HR: James Van Ostrand (2 inning, 1
run), Mattew Rogelstad (7 inning, 2 runs), Ryan Radmanovich (8 inning, 2runs)
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WP: Leal Gonzalez (1-0) LP: Armitage (0-1)
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WP: K. H. Kim (1-0) LP: Silva Escalante (0-1) HR: Miguel Ojeda (5 inning, 1 run)
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olympicbaseball March 8th, 2008

On the second day of the Final Olympic Qualifier, Canada, Korea, Chinese Taipei and Germany Win, but South Africa, Australia, Mexico and Spain lost.

Baseball America let us know more about players from minor league, and The China Post describe detail on Chinese Taipei beat Mexico, Seung-woo Kang of The Korea Times wrote an article about Korea hammers Australia, you can also get the game recap form IBAF new official websites.

WP: Periard (1-0) LP: Dancer (0-1) HR: Chris Robinson (1, 7inning)
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WP: Yang (1-0) LP: Ortega (0-1)
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WP: Ryu (1-0) LP: Wiltshire (0-1) HR: Seung Yuop Lee (1, 3 inning, 3Runs)
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WP: Marquez-Ramirez (1-0) LP: Hernandez (0-1) HR: Sascha Lutz (1, 8inning)
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olympicbaseball March 8th, 2008

The 2008 Final Olympic Baseball Qualifying Tournament has opened on Friday. The first four game winners are Korea, Canada, Australia and Chinese Taipei.

As expect, Korea, Australia and Chinese Taipei all defeat their opponent. As for a tough game between Canada and Mexico, both got 18 hits, both used six pitchers, but Canada take advantage on four errors with timely hitting, won by five runs.

“That’s international baseball because you never know,” Canadian manager Terry Puhl said in a news release. “Mexico has a lot of experienced hitters and they got back into the game. They just kept coming at us every inning and that’s a trademark of this ball club.”

“That’s a big win for us right off the bat,” said Canadian second baseman Stubby Clapp of Windsor, Ont. “It wasn’t pretty, but we hung in there and kept swinging the bats and our pitchers kept going out there, attacking the strike zone and they did a great job.”

Both Canada and Mexico are not fielding their best teams as some players are vying for a spot with teams at Major League Baseball spring training in Florida and Arizona.

Baseball Canada lobbied last fall to have the tournament rescheduled, but was rebuffed by the International Baseball Federation.

Pitchers Steve Green and T.J. Burton cemented the Canadian win on Friday, combining to shut out Mexico over the final 2 2/3 innings.

Canada jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a pair of hits by Mike Saunders and Matt Rogelstad. Another run in the second and three more in the third frame gave the red and white a seemingly comfortable advantage.

But Carlos Valencia helped vault Mexico into the lead in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run before the Canadians plated three runs in the fourth to move ahead 9-8.

In Canada’s five-run seventh inning, Adam Stern and Jimmy VanOstrand drove in two runs apiece on a double and triple respectively.

“It’s a good start for us to beat a team like Mexico,” said Rogelstad, who went 3-for-4 with three runs scored. “We came out ready to play. We got some runs early in the game and we were able to keep that going.”

Below is the score and result of Game 1:

WP: Son (1-0) LP: Verschuren (0-1)
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WP: Richmond (1-0) LP: Alvarez Ramirez (0-1) HR: Carlos Valencia (1, 3inning)
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WP: Mildren (1-0) LP: Henkenjohann (0-1)
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WP: Chiang (1-0) LP: Olivera Cavero (0-1) HR: Chen-Ming Peng (1, 1st inning), Kuo-Hui Lo (1, 4th inning)
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olympicbaseball March 3rd, 2008

Canada won three in a row to finish the Australia Exhibition Series before going to Taiwan.

According to Canada Press:

The Canadian national team beat Australia 4-1 on Monday in the finale of a five-game exhibition series in preparation for this month’s Olympic baseball qualifying tournament.

Jimmy VanOstrand of Richmond, B.C., doubled, homered and scored twice while starter Jonathan Lockwood of Toronto allowed one hit and struck out two over three innings.

Jamie Richmond of Mississauga, Ont., allowed two hits over three innings. Alexandre Picard of St. Eustache, Que., gave up the lone run on three hits over two innings.

“It was a good outing for everybody today,” said Canada manager Terry Puhl. “Lockwood was outstanding and he’s going to be a workhorse for us going forward. Richmond did what he always does and Periard was solid as well.”

David Corrente of Chatham, Ont., had a solo homer for Canada, who finished the series with a 3-1-1 mark.

“We have all the tools here to get it done,” said Puhl. “We just need to stick to our game and we’ll get the results that we want.”

And the Baseball Canada:

Canada’s offence got the job done and the pitching was stellar as they would take the final exhibition game of this series by a score of 4-1 over Australia.

The pitchers were solid in shutting down the Aussie offence in this eight inning contest, starting with the starter Jonathan Lockwood (Toronto, ON). Lockwood only allowed one hit and two walks with a pair of strikeouts in three inning of work.

“You have to approach this time to work on things you need to work on and treat it as a learning experience going into the tournament so you can be at your best,” says Lockwood.

“Every game is going to be a combination of guys. It’s good that everybody finished well and did what they had to do and that looks good come tournament time because guys are going to go in there and get it done.”

Jamie Richmond (Mississauga, ON) and Alexandre Periard (St. Eustache, QC) were in good form in relief. Richmond, in three innings pitched, allowed two hits with two strikeouts and Periard gave up a run on three hits and a walk with one punch out in two innings in relief.

“It was a good outing for everybody today,” says Manager Terry Puhl. “Lockwood was outstanding, and he’s going to be a workhorse for us going forward. Richmond did what he always does and Periard was solid as well.”

Offensively, the star in this game was Jimmy VanOstrand (Richmond, BC) who doubled, homered and scored twice. He hit the double in the second inning and would come in to score the game’s first run on a single from Nick Weglarz (Stevensville, ON).

VanOstrand would homer in the fourth inning off of Adam Blackley with Matt Rogelstad (New Westminster, BC) on base to increase the Canadian lead.

“It was good to have a game like that to finish off the exhibition series,” says VanOstrand who was 2-for-2 with two RBI. “I’m looking forward to going to Taiwan and hopefully keep it going.”

David Corrente (Chatham, ON) would also add to the offence with a solo-home run to lead off the fifth inning off of Gavin Dlouhy. Corrente would hit the second pitch of the inning over the left field fence to put Canada ahead 4-0.

The Aussies would break the shutout bid in the seventh inning when Andrew Utting would single off of Periard to drive in Ben Risinger and put the Australians on the board.

The Canadians finished the exhibition series with a 3-1-1 record, which could be a good sign going into the Final Olympic Qualifier.

“It looks good for us,” says VanOstrand about his hopes for the qualifier. “It’s a tough tournament and there is going to be a lot of tough competition there but we definitely have a good team to give ourselves a chance. It’s going to be lots of fun.”

“We have all the tools here to get it done. We just need to stick to our game and we’ll get the results that we want,” says Puhl.

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olympicbaseball March 2nd, 2008

This time, Canada break tie and get another Win from Australia.

According to Baseball Canada:

Canada’s offence once again came up big as they would break a 5-5 tie in the eighth inning to beat Australia in the fourth exhibition game of the series by a score of 9-5.

The Canadians would score four runs on five straight hits in the eighth inning before the Aussies could register an out.

Emmanuel Garcia (Montreal, QC) started things off with a leadoff double and would score on Mike Saunders’ (Victoria, BC) RBI triple. Ryan Radmanovich (Calgary, AB) would then drive in his second run of the game with a single to score Saunders. Matt Rogelstad (New Westminster, BC) would move Radmanovich up to third base with a double and Emerson Frostad (Calgary, AB) would cash in Radmanovich with a single. David Corrente (Chatham, ON) would drive in Rogelstad to complete the scoring.

“Manny Garcia had a wonderful night, Saunders was fabulous and Radmanovich had some big RBIs. It’s coming together for us,” says Manager Terry Puhl.

It was a good start to the ballgame for Canada as they would open the scoring in the first inning when Radmanovich would drive in Stubby Clapp (Windsor, ON) for the first run of the game.

“I’m feeling good about my swing right now. It was nice to get a couple big hits in key situations which is the things we’re going to have to do in (the qualifier) to win,” says Radmanovich, who was 2-for-3 with the two RBI.

From there, James Avery (Moose Jaw, SK) shut things down, allowing only two walks with three strikeouts in three innings of work to start the game.

“I’m feeling pretty good. I’m building up every time we go. I threw pretty well tonight, a couple of walks were disappointing, but other than that I thought I threw pretty well,” says Avery.

But the Aussies would comeback and score four runs in the fourth inning off Brooks McNiven (Vancouver, BC) to take a 4-1 lead. Two doubles, two singles and an error was the cause for the Australian runs in the inning.

The Canadians would tie thing up however in their half of the fourth inning on two sacrifice flies from Rogelstad and Nick Weglarz (Stevensville, ON) and a wild pitch that would score Saunders who reached on a single.

Canada would then take the lead in the sixth inning when Garcia, who tripled to lead off the inning, would score on a ground out by Rogelstad.

Once again though, Australia would comeback to tie the ballgame when Daniel Berg hit an RBI single to score Mitch Dening to tie things up at 5-5.

But the Canadians would score four in the eighth and T.J. Burton (Ottawa, ON) would pitch a one, two, three ninth inning to preserve the win for Canada.

You can find the Box Score and Play-by-play.

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olympicbaseball March 1st, 2008

Even a six-run lead, Australia can not hold the margin and tied by Canada.

From Canada Press:

Steve Green of Greenfield Park, Que., fanned five of the six batters he faced as Canada rallied from a six-run deficit in the ninth inning to claim an 8-8 exhibition baseball tie with Australia on Saturday.

Emerson Frostad of Calgary hit a two-run homer and Victoria’s Mike Saunders belted a three-run shot in a six-run ninth inning for Canada. But it was a two-out, run-scoring single by Nick Weglarz of Stevensville, Ont., that brought home the tying run.

“I mark (this game) down as a win,” said Canadian team manager Terry Puhl. “When you come back and hit the ball as hard as we did and score runs . . . a team that never has any quit in it is a team that is going to qualify (for the Olympics).”

Frostad finished 2-for-4 and drove in three runs for Canada.

“It was a great comeback,” he said. “We were slow the first couple of innings and it took a little while to get going, but that’s the type of team we are.

“We’re very explosive and we can put up those big innings.”

At Baseball Canada:

The Canadians erased a six run deficit in the ninth inning and Steve Green (Greenfield Park, QC) struck out five of the six batters he faced to preserve an 8-8 tie in the third exhibition game against Australia.

Canada was behind by a score of 8-2 going into the top of the ninth inning. Emmanuel Garcia (Montreal, QC) got things started with a single followed by a two-run home run by Emerson Frostad (Calgary, AB) to cut the margin in half.

After Adam Stern (London, ON) drew a walk and a double from Stubby Clapp (Windsor, ON), Mike Saunders (Victoria, BC) hit a three-run bomb to right field to bring the Canadians within one with nobody out.

With now two out and Taylor Green (Courtenay, BC) on third, Nick Weglarz (Stevensville, ON) drove in the tying run with a single off Aussie Brendan Wise.

“I mark (this game) down as a win,” says Manager Terry Puhl. “When you come back and hit the ball as hard as we did and score runs… a team that never has any quit in it is a team that is going to qualify (for the Olympics).”

“It was a great comeback,” says Frostad, who got the comeback started and was 2-for-4 with three RBI. “We were slow the first couple of innings and it took a little while to get going, but that’s the type of team we are. We’re very explosive and we can put up those big innings.”

The Aussies started the game with a bang as they would put across four runs in the first inning off Canadian starter Brett Gray (Petrolia, ON). Gray would allow another run in the second inning to put the Aussies ahead 5-0.

Canada would cut the gap in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Frostad, who would later score on a bases loaded walk to bring the score to 5-2.

“I’m starting to get the flow again. It’s mostly timing. We’ve all been hitting in the cages and working out. It’s just getting that (in game) timing down and it’s going to take a couple games, but a lot of the guys are starting to get going and hopefully we can keep that going,” says Frostad.

But the Australians would add to the lead in the sixth when Ben Risinger, Glenn Williams and Mat Kent all came in to score off Scott Richmond (Langley, BC), who allowed one run on two hits, and Mike Kusiewicz (Ottawa, ON), who allowed two runs, one earned, on one hit, to make it 8-2 for Australia.

Steve Green came into the game in the eighth inning with Canada trailing by six and silenced the Aussie offence when he struck out two of the three batters he faced in the inning to allow his teammates to generate the impressive comeback the following inning.

Green would then shut down the Australian attack by striking out the side in the ninth inning to finish the game.

“This game gave me a great boost of confidence,” says Green. “It was an unbelievable game. The thing about Team Canada is that we never give up and that’s key. We showed it with six runs in the ninth and we got the job done.”

You can also find the Box Score and Play-by-play at Baseball Australia web site.

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olympicbaseball February 29th, 2008

At the second game of Australia vs. Canada, Canada won big by four home runs. Now they are 1-1 on the exhibition series.

Based on the Canada Press :

The Canadian national team whipped Australia 10-1 in the second game of a five-game exhibition series in preparation for next month’s Olympic baseball qualifying tournament.

Matt Rogelstad of New Westminster, B.C., belted a grand slam in the first inning, one of four home runs for Canada on the day. “You could see this team has a lot of power,” said manager Terry Puhl. “It’s going to be fun.”

Canada finished with 15 hits.

“Today guys got a lot of good swings,” said Adam Stern of London, Ont. “Now it’s going to be getting (timing) down.”

Stern, Nick Weglarz of Stevensville, Ont., and Mike Saunders of Victoria also went deep for Canada.

Starter Jamie Richmond of Mississauga, Ont., allowed two walks and struck out two over a pair of no-hit innings.

“Jamie’s been pitching with a lot of confidence really early,” said Puhl. “He did well for us at the World Cup and he’s going to be a big part of our pitching staff.”

Jonathan Lockwood of Toronto gave up one run over two innings. Alexandre Periard of St. Eustache, Que., and T.J. Burton of Ottawa combined to allow one walk over three innings.

And Baseball Canada said:

Canada was running on all cylinders as both the pitching and offense flexed their muscle in a 10-1 win over Australia in the second exhibition game of this series.

The Canadians collected 15 hits to go along with four home runs in this game which saw 10 of the 12 players who saw action get at least one hit.

“We got to see a lot of pitch tonight and this time we were squaring up the baseball,” says Manager Terry Puhl. “You could see that this team has a lot of power. It’s going to be fun.”

The Canadian offense did not waste any time to put points on the board. The first inning saw Canada put four runs on the board with the help of a grand slam from Matt Rogelstad (New Westminster, BC).

The inning started with two straight walks to Adam Stern (London, ON) and Stubby Clapp (Windsor, ON) and a single by Mike Saunders (Victoria, BC) to load the bases. After Ryan Radmanovich (Calgary, AB) hit into a fielder’s choice, Rogelstad belted the grand slam to put Canada in front 4-0.

“Today, guys got a lot of good swings,” says Stern, who was 2-for-4 with a two-run home run. “Now it’s going to be getting (timing) down, getting to hit the breaking balls and off speed stuff, because that’s going to be our biggest challenge when you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.”

After increasing the lead to 5-0 on a RBI single from Radmanovich in the second inning, the Canadians scored two more runs in the third inning on a two-run homer by Nick Weglarz (Stevensville, ON), making it 7-0.

“I had a pretty good approach, slowed it down and it went good,” says Weglarz, who was 2-for-4 including a double. “It was 3-1 knuckle ball that didn’t break, got it up and it went.”

The score would be 7-1 going into the seventh inning when Saunders hit a solo home run to bring the lead back to seven runs.

Stern would complete the scoring in the eighth inning with his two-run knock.

“Right now, results are good but you want to get comfortable, get ready to hit and today happened to be a good day,” says Stern. “I still want to see more off speed stuff, but it was one of those things that all of a sudden clicked and I was ready to go.”

As for the pitchers, they held the Aussie offense in check all night.

It started with Jamie Richmond (Mississauga, ON), who threw two no-hit innings, allowing only two walks with a pair of strikeouts.

“Not bad for the first time out. I didn’t feel great, but it I think it went good,” says Richmond.

“Jamie’s been pitching with a lot of confidence really early,” says Puhl. “He did well for us at the World Cup and he’s going to be a big part of our pitching staff.”

Jonathan Lockwood (Toronto, ON) followed with a solid two innings of his own, allowing one run on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts.

Alexandre Periard (St. Eustache, QC) and T.J. Burton (Ottawa, ON) combined to close out the Canadian side on the mound, giving up only a walk with one punch out in three innings of work.

You can also find the Box Score and Play-by-play at Baseball Australia web site.

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