Photo By David Cohen, BHEphotos
CIEGO DE AVILA, Cuba – The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team did not allow a baserunner for the first six innings but Cuba rallied to score three runs in the eighth after a three-hour and two-minute rain delay to sneak away with a 3-1 win in the series opener Saturday at Jose Ramon Cepero Stadium.
Team USA was in absolute command in the early innings, scoring a run in the opening frame on an RBI single by Brendan McKay (Louisville) and then getting stellar pitching from Tanner Houck (Missouri) and Ricky Tyler Thomas (Fresno State) who were both perfect over three innings of work each.
Then the rains came.
With two outs in the top of the sixth, a heavy shower and lightning forced both teams to retreat to their respective dugouts. That is where they would wait for the next three hours and two minutes as the local grounds crew worked to get the field back into a playable condition.
Following the lengthy delay, Cuba was finally able to get a baserunner in the bottom of the seventh with a pair of walks before breaking through on the scoreboard with three runs on three hits in the eighth.
A 1-2-3 top of the ninth then closed out the victory for the home team. The two squads will continue with game two of the series at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday back at Cepero Stadium, home of the Ciego de Avila Tigers, winners of the Series Nacional each of the last two years.
Team USA will look to bounce back by sending right-hander Alex Faedo (Florida) to the mound. This summer he is 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA having struck out 18 batters and walked just one over 12 innings. Cuba will counter with southpaw Yoanni Yerra.
QUOTES
Team USA field manager George Horton
(On opening the series against Cuba)
“It is exciting to be here. We have great respect for Cuban baseball. I was here in 2012 in Havana at Latinoamericano Stadium when we played against some of those great players who are playing in the United States now like Jose Abreu. It was great to be able to go to Taiwan and Japan and play two other really good baseball organizations. Now we would like to close out our tour with success in Cuba. We know that is not an easy task and that was a tough defeat tonight with the rain delay and the length of the game but I am very proud of the effort our guys gave tonight.
(On his expectations for the rest of the series)
“We hope to win more than them. We are down one but we would like to play well and be able to win the last four. We were in position to win today but just couldn’t sustain that.”
