FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
(REGENSBURG, Germany) – Matt den Dekker (Florida; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run triple in the fourth, and Mike Leake (Arizona State; Fallbrook, Calif.) struck out seven over 7.0 innings as the USA Baseball National Team eased to a 9-3 victory Tuesday night over the German National Team at Armin Wolf Arena. Team USA improved to 15-0 on the 2008 tour with the victory.
As the National Team wore patches on their uniforms that commemorate the 30th Year of USA Baseball, Tuesday’s game marked the first time a USA Baseball National Team played a game on German soil.
Josh Fellhauer (Cal State Fullerton; Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) singled with one out in the fourth and moved to second on a groundout. After Derek Dietrich (Georgia Tech; Parma, Ohio) walked, den Dekker laced a full-count pitch into the left-center gap to score Fellhauer and Dietrich and give the U.S. squad a lead it would never relinquish.
Team USA took control of the game in eighth, adding six runs on homers from Jared Clark (Cal State Fullerton; Castaic, Calif.) and Tommy Mendonca (Fresno State; Turlock, Calif.). Christian Colon (Cal State Fullerton; Corona, Calif.) started the inning with a single up the middle; Clark followed with a two-run shot well over the left-field wall on the first pitch he saw. A walk, a Dietrich double and a hit by pitch loaded the bases before Mendonca lifted a moon-shot grand slam over the right-field wall.
Meanwhile, Leake allowed only one unearned run on seven hits and no walks. After Fellhauer gave Team USA a 1-0 lead in the second when he scored a on a Ryan Jackson (Miami-FL: Miami Springs, Fla.) groundout, Germany tied the game in the third on Leake’s errant pickoff throw with runners on the corners and one out. Leake went on to retire the next two batters to close the inning without further damage.
Team Germany got a pair of runs on four walks and one hit off Brett Hunter (Pepperdine; Moorpark, Calif.) in the bottom of the eighth. The lone hit was a two-run double from Simon Guhring. However, that was as close as the German squad would get as Hunter escaped without further damage and Blake Smith (California; Modesto, Calif.) worked a scoreless ninth.
Colon and Dietrich both had two-hit games for Team USA, while Dietrich and Fellhauer both scored twice. Team USA benefitted defensively from four double plays, including two that ended innings.
Team USA faces a challenging day Wednesday, leaving Regensburg, Germany, at 7 a.m. local time. The National Team will travel approximately eight hours by bus to Ostrava, Czech Republic, where it will play the Czech National Team in Team USA’s final tune-up game before the FISU World Championship begin this weekend. First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. EDT.
USA Baseball is the National Governing Body of amateur baseball in the United States and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The organization selects and trains the United States Olympic Baseball Team (and all other USA Baseball Professional Teams); the USA Baseball National Team (collegiate); the USA Baseball 18U, 16U and 14U National Teams; and the USA Baseball Women’s National Team, all of which participate in various international competitions each year. For more information on USA Baseball please visit usabaseball.com.
