Congratulations to Peter Turner and the USA Men's Team
USA Men's National Team wins gold medal at Pan Am Qualifier
Guatemala City, Guatemala the USA Men's National Team captured the 2002 Men's Pan Am Qualifier with a 6-5 win over arch rival Canada. The win advances the USA into the Pan Am Games as the No. 1 seed.
The USA trailed for most of the game but rallied in the top of the sixth inning.
Cannada took a 4-0 lead with RBIs by Evan Potskin, Ryan Wolfe, Terry Challis and Dean Holien.
The USA responded with a six run fifth inning. With two outs in the inning, the USA rallied to take the lead. Ehren Earleywine (Corpus Christi, TX) singled up the middle to keep the inning alive. Kerry Shaw (Odessa, MO) singled up the middle to advance Chris Miljavac (St.Joseph,MO), who was pinch-running for Earleywine. Shawn Rychick (Salamance, NY) drove in the first run with a single to left field.
Following a pitchin change, the USA remained hot at the plate. Ross Dey (Sedalia, MO) singled to left field to score Shaw. Todd Budke (Quartz Hill, CA) then doubled to left center to clear the bases and tie the game at 4-4. Mike Dryer (Excelsior Springs, MO) singled to center fiedl to score Budke and give the USA its first lead of the game. Todd Garcia (Woodbridge, CA) added an insurance run with a singel through the left side to score Dryer.
Canada scored one run in the top of the sixth but was unalbe to tie the game.
Michael White (Sioux City, IA) replaced USA starter Doug Gillis (novi, MI) in the circle in the top of the fifth inning to pick up the save. Gillis allowed four runs on nine hits and struck out four. White pitched two inings and allowed only one run on one hit.
The USA finished the tournament with a .378 batting average, hit 18 home runs and outscored its opponents 152-38. Tood Garcia led the USA in batting (.484), home runs (6), runs scored (14) and RBI (17).