FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team exploded for a 10-2 victory over the Morehead City Marlins Sunday night. Four team members collected a pair of hits in the game, while Kentucky’s A.J. Reed paced the team with a pair of RBIs.
“I thought tonight was a really good win for us,” said manager Jim Schlossnagle (TCU). “Obviously, we swung the bats really well. They gave us a lot of free base runners, but there were a lot of quality at-bats throughout the game. We played a much crisper game defensively and I was really pleased with the way Tyler, Cole and Colin pitched. We looked much more like the Team USA that I want us to be in terms of how hard we played, our energy between innings and throwing the ball around the infield. We look more and more like a team.”
All 10 of Team USA’s runs came in the middle frames as the squad put up crooked numbers in three innings. In addition to the 10 hits, Team USA drew 10 walks and took advantage of three Marlin errors.
On the mound, the trio of Tyler Beede (Vanderbilt), Cole Irvin (Oregon) and Colin Welmon (Loyola Marymount) limited the Marlins to two runs on three hits and three walks. Beede earned the win after allowing a run on a hit and a walk in four innings. He finished his outing with four strikeouts. Irvin was touched for a run on a hit, walked one and struck out four in two innings. Welmon pitched three scoreless frames to earn the save. He fanned three and gave up a hit.
Team USA broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third, scoring three runs on four hits. Brad Zimmer (San Francisco) led off the frame with a double and was standing on third after a bunt single from C.J. Hinojosa (Texas). A passed ball gave Team USA the 1-0 lead. Will Maddox (Tennessee) made it 2-0 with a single to left. With two outs, Reed doubled home Matt Chapman (Cal State Fullerton) to cap the scoring.
The Marlins battled back in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of a pair of two-out walks to cut the deficit to two, 3-1. A walk to Dalton Britt snapped a string of eight straight retired by Beede to open the game. Britt came around to score on a Ryan Cranmer base hit.
The Red, White and Blue got the run back and tacked on another in the fourth to increase the lead to four, 5-1. Mike Papi (Virginia) led off the frame with a base hit. With one out, Papi swiped third base and scored on a two-out wild pitch. An error on a ground ball to second allowed C.J. Hinojosa (Texas) to score the second run of the inning.
Team USA and Morehead City traded runs in the fifth inning to push the score to 6-2. Another Marlin miscue helped the CNT pick up its sixth run of the game. Chapman reached on the error to open the inning. He stole two bases and raced home on the second wild pitch of the game. The Marlins run came courtesy of a Cranmer bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
Four walks, a hit batter and a costly error helped the Collegiate National Team put up a four spot in the sixth inning. Brad Zimmer (San Francisco) tallied the only hit of the frame, an infield single to lead-off the stanza. With the bases loaded and one out, Chapman worked a walk to drive in the first run of the inning. Reed bounced into a fielder’s choice to push the lead to 8-2. A throwing error on what should have been the final out allowed two more runs to cross the plate.
The victory improved Team USA’s record to 2-0. The squad will continue its tour through the Coastal Plains League Monday night when it takes over the Fayetteville SwampDogs. TCU’s Brandon Finnegan will make his first start of the summer. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m. in Fayetteville, N.C.
