Team USA shows strength and wins series

RESULT | GAMES | CUMULATIVE STATISTICS

CARY, NC – The U.S. team earned a series-clinching victory over Chinese Taipei on Monday, July 1, scoring nine unanswered runs to win 11-1.

WHEN IT HAPPENED

• Team USA (3-0) made headlines first in the fourth inning when Danny Dickinson (West Richland, Washington) stole second and third base and touched home on a wild pitch. Two batters later, RJ Austin Jr. (Vanderbilt) hit a massive home run to left field to give Team USA a 2-0 lead after four innings.
• Chinese Taipei (0-3) cut the lead to one in the next inning when Zheng Jun-Wei won a long batting battle and hit a single through the right side. That brought Lai Chun into the game and made the score 2-1, giving Team USA the lead until the bottom of the fifth inning.
• Devin Taylor (Indiana) started a strong inning for Team USA in the sixth, hitting a leadoff double to left field. Austin Jr. was the next batter to hit a bunt single before following Taylor home on a two-RBI single to right field by Marek Houston (Wake Forest). Dean Curley (Tennessee) added another with a double to left center to score Houston, giving Team USA a 5-1 lead after six innings.
• Team USA tied the game early with six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Taylor hit a two-run homer down the right field line, his second extra-base hit of the night, and Drew Burress (Georgia Tech) followed with an RBI single of his own. Brooks Bryan (Troy) and Curley hit back-to-back doubles, with Bryan driving in a run and Curley scoring the final two runs of the game to make it 11-1.

NOTABLE STATISTICS:

• Nolan Schubart (Oklahoma State) was untested and managed five walks, improving his on-base percentage to .923 and his OPS to 3.123.
• Team USA recorded six extra-base hits with two home runs by Taylor and Austin Jr., two doubles by Curley and a double each for Bryan and Taylor.
• Curley finished with three RBIs and Taylor and Houston each had two.
• The U.S. team’s pitchers held Chinese Taipei to just two hits and two walks, striking out 13 batters. Kyson Witherspoon (Oklahoma) started on the mound and managed six strikeouts, and Gabe Davis (Oklahoma State) delivered two flawless innings with four punchouts. Anthony Eyanson (UC San Diego) was the record-setting pitcher, striking out three of the seven batters he faced in 1.1 innings.
• Zheng and Huang Bo-Rui both scored goals for Chinese Taipei.

ON BOARD

Team USA will travel west through North Carolina to play the final two games of the 21st USA vs. Chinese Taipei International Friendship Series sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The team will play at First National Field in Greensboro, NC on Tuesday, July 2 at 6:35 p.m. before concluding the series in Kannapolis, NC.