Mark Hardy. Photo by Bob Broughton.
Team Canada, representing Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), defeated the Czech Republic, 4-0, at AVG Draci Brno Field, in Brno, CZ. Team Canada improves to 2-3 at the 4th annual World University Baseball Championships while the Czech Republic falls to 1-4.
Team Canada came into tonight’s game knowing they needed a victory to keep their medal hopes alive. That is exactly what the team did; they played a complete game pitching, hitting and defense to eliminate the host Czech Republic from advancing to the medal round and now with a 2-3 record they can concentrate on their one game showdown with Korea, who currently sport a 3-2 tournament record.
Again tonight the story was starting pitching. Veteran British Columbia LHP Mark Hardy of Campbell River, BC pitched the game of his life. The Sophomore Thunderbird struck out 15 Czech Republic batters, while walking none and giving up only three hits over 8 innings. “Mark gave us a big time performance tonight when we needed it most,” said Head Coach Terry McKaig. “Our starting pitching has come around and now won two key games for us, giving our bullpen the needed rest for tomorrow’s game against Korea.”
The hitting was also timely tonight as Canada scored four runs on nine hits, led by First Basemen Marshall MacDonald (Dayton) with two hits and two runs batted in. Second Basemen Alex White (British Columbia) also had a two-hit night and score twice, while Scott Webster (British Columbia) and Kyle Prevett (Grayson CC) knocked in Canada’s other two runs with sacrifice flies.
Team Canada will next face Korea (3-2), on Thursday, July 24th, at Skokani-Olomouc Stadium, at 4:30 PM (10:30 AM EST). Canada needs to defeat Korea to have any chance to advance to the medal rounds. Should Chinese Taipei defeat the United States on Thursday, Chinese Taipei will finish at 4-2 and clinch 3rd Place. Then the winner of Korea-Canada game goes directly to the Medal round as the 4th Place team, based on head to head record if Canada wins. Should the three countries finish 3-3, the first tie breaking procedure is runs given up against the other two opponents divided by innings played. The full FISU record book on tie breakers can be viewed at www.fisu.net.
In addition to tomorrow’s final round robin games, tomorrow night will be the 2008 World University Baseball Banquet where the Top Hitting & Pitching awards will be presented by the Host Organization the Czech Republic Baseball Association.
David A. Kent, Communications Manager
