CBB Top Pitchers to Watch in 2008

We are starting up with our previews of the 2008 season. We have broken down the top five pitchers in the country. Stay tuned for more previews of the upcoming season as the season gets closer.

Aaron Crow, Jr. Missouri



Crow was named the top pitching prospect in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League this summer. Crow has a mid-90's fastball with a plus slider and a solid cutter. Crow went 9-4 with a 3.59 last season but got bombed in the NCAA Tournament by Louisville as he let up seven runs in 2/3 of an inning.

Jacob Thompson, Jr. Virginia

Thompson had a breakout season in 2007 where he led the Virginia Cavaliers to the NCAA Tournament. He had a perfect 11-0 record with a 1.50 ERA. Thompson has a low 90's fastball with downward action on it with a solid curveball. Thompson pitched over the summer for the USA National Team where he got a chance to pitch in the Pan Am Games. He went 1-2 with a 1.27 ERA in 21.1 innings. He was shutdown after the Pan-Am Games to rest his arm for the 2008 season.

Brian Matusz, Jr. San Diego

Matusz is a 6'4 left handed power pitcher for the University of San Diego baseball program. In 2007, He led the Toreros to the number 1 seed in the San Diego regional with a 10-3 record with a 2.85 ERA. He also struck out 163 strikeouts in 123 innings. He pitched for the USA National Team this summer where he compiled a 3-1 record with a 1.33 ERA in four starts. He was also shut down for the summer after the Pan-Am Games to rest his arm.

Kyle Gibson, So. Missouri



Gibson is a 6'5 right handed sinker ball pitcher who was named the number 3 overall prospect in the Cape Cod League by Baseball America and number 9 by Perfect Game. He lead the Missouri Tigers with help from Aaron Crow to the NCAA Tournament as he had a 8-3 record with a 4.12 ERA as he served as the closer with seven saves. He is expected to make the move to the rotation in 2008 and give the Tigers two legitimate aces on the staff.

Ryan Perry, Jr. Arizona



Perry dazzled scouts in the Cape Cod League with a mid-90's fastball which hit 97 on some guns over the summer. He struggled in 2007 with the Arizona Wildcats as he went 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA. Perry was recovering from a January 2007 accident when he crashed his motorcycle going over 80 MPH without a helmet on which he walked away with a broken non-throwing arm. Perry pitched in 18 games coming out of the bullpen while picking up four saves. His record for the CCBL season was only 1-2 with a 4.15 ERA. He is expected to become an impact player in the Pac-10 for the 2008 season.

The College Baseball Blog would like to thank Cape Prospects for providing the videos for some of the pitchers.

Cal 2008 Schedule is out

The Cal Bears released their 2008 schedule recently which is highlighted by taking part in a tournament in San Diego where they will take on USD, Fresno State, SDSU, and Missouri. They will play a full Pac-10 schedule with UCLA, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon State visiting Berkley while Washington State, USC, Arizona State, and Stanford will welcome the Bears to their stadiums. The full schedule is available here.

Jett Ruiz turns up at San Diego

Jett Ruiz formerly a catcher with the Boston College Eagles has turned up with the San Diego Toreros. He left the Boston College program last season late in the year over the emergence of freshman catcher Tony Sanchez Jr. Ruiz will enter San Diego as a junior but will likely not see much time behind the plate with Logan Gelbrich expected to handle the pitching staff in 2008. Ruiz struggled mightily in the ACC the last two seasons. He showed a few glimpses of talent but could not become a consistent hitter.

San Diego releases Fall Schedule

The San Diego baseball program has released their fall schedule for 2007. They will play 13 intrasquad scrimmages with three games against Long Beach State scheduled from October 26th-28th with the first two games at Long Beach State and the final game hosted by the Toreros. They will finish the fall with a Fall World Series on November 16th and 17th. The full schedule is available here.

LSU Takes 2008 CB Recruiting Title

Coach Paul Mainieri and Recruiting Coordinator Terry Rooney took home the title of #1 Recruiting Class of 2008. The Collegiate Baseball title was unsurprising as Coach M (in his first year at Baton Rouge after a successful stint in South Bend) and Coach Rooney had assembled a massive class including 12 Freshman and 7 JuCos, including several All-Americans.

The future is certainly looking bright for LSU, which is seeking to restore its position as one of the top programs in the country.

This was the 25th ranking of recruiting classes by Collegiate Baseball. The full release can be found here.

The list of top classes goes as follows:

Rank Team Recruits

1. Louisiana St. 19

2. Florida St. 20

3. Oregon St. 16

4. Notre Dame 14

5. UCLA 11

6. Cal. St. Fullerton 16

7. North Carolina 12

8. Arizona St. 17

9. San Diego 18

10. Texas 17

11. Washington 16

12. Auburn 14

13. Virginia 16

14. Oklahoma St. 18

15. Vanderbilt 13

16. Georgia 14

17. Rice 12

18. South Carolina 13

19. Missouri 16

20. Miami, Fla. 8

21. Clemson 10

22. Stanford 13

23. Georgia Tech. 11

24. Arizona 9

25. Mississippi 17

What's In Store for 2008

Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com has been busy churning out quality content. Some of his latests items include:

- A rundown of the issues for SEC teams in 2008

- The same rundown for Big 12 squads

- A pre-Fall listing of the top 25 teams heading into the next season (not really a top 25, but rather a 25 teams to watch, listed in alphabetical order).

In his latest Mailbag, Kendall also discusses Irvine, Wake Forest, Oregon and Oregon State, and the differences between Fresno State and San Diego.

Who Oregon Should be Looking at

Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com offered up his suggestion of five coaches Pat Kilkenny should target for the opening at Oregon. You can read the article here.

His list:

Mike Trapasso of Hawaii

Ritch Price of Kansas

Mark Machtolf of Gonzaga

Rich Hill of San Diego

Nino Giarratano of San Francisco

San Diego releases 2008 Schedule

The University of San Diego and head coach Rich Hill have released their 2008 schedule which is highlighted by visits from Cal-State Fullerton, Missouri, and UC-Irvine. They will open the season on February 22nd when they play a four game three day home and home series with cross-town rival San Diego State. Some other highlights from the schedule are when the Toreros head to Hawaii-Hilo for a three game series from March 15th-17th before returning home to take on Ivy League power Harvard for a three game set. The press release is available here.

Who's the fastest rising program?

Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com College Baseball has counted down his top 10 rising programs with a series of articles. Here's the list.

10. Memphis
9. Coastal Carolina
8. Michigan
7. UC Riverside
6. Texas A&M
5. Louisville
4. Missouri
3. San Diego
2. UC Irvine
1. UCLA

Kendall also answered some interesting questions in his latest Mailbag. Addressed were the draft decisions for a trio of Longhorns and Rick Porcello. Also discussed are the prospects for the NC State Wolfpack and Western Carolina's hiring of Bobby Moranda.

Cuba ends Team USA's summer

Courtesy of USA Baseball
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS— Cuba (8-0 WPT) ran the table on the rest of the World Port Tournament, eliminating Team USA (25-12, 4-4 WPT) from the finals and ending their summer, following a 5-1 victory. The Cubans will take on Chinese Taipei, who also beat the USA twice over the last 10 days, in the finals starting at 7 a.m. Eastern.

The Americans sent the go-ahead run to the plate in the eighth against reliever Yulieski Gonzalez with two outs, after putting two runners on with no outs against starter Arley Sanchez. Gonzalez got a hard lineout, followed by a strikeout and then walked Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) to load the bases. Gonzalez though got Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech) to strikeout, part of a nine-pitch at-bat, to keep Cuba in front 4-1.

Gonzalez then pitched a scoreless ninth, after Cuba added a run in the top of the inning, for the two inning save.

Three Cuban home runs were more than enough for Sanchez, who tired after seven-plus innings. Sanchez allowed a single unearned run on seven hits, while striking out six and walking one. Sanchez allowed a walk and a single in the eighth, before being relieved by Gonzalez.

Mike Minor (5-2, Vanderbilt), took the loss, going the first four innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits, two of which that left the ballpark. Cody Satterwhite (Ole Miss) and Brett Hunter (Pepperdine) each gave up single runs in their relief appearances.

A one-out error by Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) at short came back to haunt the Americans as Tournament RBI leader, Yosvani Peraza, hit a two-run homer to give Cuba a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Minor had a 33-pitch first inning.

A solo home run by Jose Julio Ruiz gave Cuba a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Hector Olivera’s solo home run off of Satterwhite in the seventh made it 4-0.

TEAM NOTES
Josh Romanski (San Diego) made a nice diving catch in the fourth, towards the line, to rob Alexei Bell of a hit... Cleanup hitter LF Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) missed the last five games, minus a pinch-hit performance yesterday, with a sore foot... 3B Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) was the designated hitter the last four days due to a sore arm... Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) ended the summer on an eight-game hit streak, while Jordan Danks (Texas) ended it on a seven-game streak.

WORLD PORT NOTES
Japan (0-7) and the Netherlands (3-4) close out the regularly scheduled tournament games tonight... Chinese Taipei (4-4), who finished yesterday, gained the tiebreaker with the USA yesterday, forcing the USA to win today to advance, based on number of wins against (2-0), if the USA and Taipei were tied and in runs allowed between the three tied teams, if the Netherlands were to finish in a three-way tie with the USA and Taipei (12 runs for Taipei to 13 runs for the USA to 21 runs for the Netherlands)... Games can be followed live on the internet at http://www.worldporttournament.nl/... Stats are available at: http://utopia.ision.nl/users/hwede/stats07/wpt07/ and under live scoring.

FINAL TEAM LEADERS FOR THE SUMMER
Hitting--Average (Alvarez-.315), Home Runs (Alvarez/Kieschnick-7), RBIs (Alvarez-30), Runs (Danks-37) Hits (Alvarez-40), Walks (Danks-25), Doubles (Smoak-10), Triples (Danks-2), Multi-Hit Games (Alvarez-12); Pitching---Wins (Minor-5-2), ERA-Reliever (Hunter-0.66), Saves (Satterwhite-4), ERA-Starter (Ross-0.82), Strikeouts (Ross-39), Appearances (Hunter-14)

Duo Pushes Team USA into Second

-Courtesy of USA Baseball-

ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS— Team USA (25-10, 4-2 WPT) moved into sole possession of second place with two days to play at the World Port Tournament following a 10-2 win over host Netherlands (3-3 WPT) on a cool and windy Thursday evening.

Jordan Danks (Texas) fell a triple short of hitting for the cycle, going 3-for-5 with a solo home run and RBI double, while Tommy Medica (Santa Clara) drove in two runs with two hits. Justin Smoak (South Carolina) walked twice and got two hits.

Team USA pushed across three runs in the first and fourth innings to give Ryan Berry (2-1, Rice) a 7-1 lead. Berry rebounded to go seven innings, giving up a run on five hits.

After walking three and scattering four hits over the first two innings, Berry pitched to the minimum over the final five innings. He got out of the first two innings with just one run, thanks to two double plays, and after a second inning walk, retired seven and then a final eight in a row. He used just three pitches to retire the side in the seventh. The Dutch had just one hit from the third until a three-hit ninth inning, finishing with eight hits.

Back-to-back doubles by Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) and Danks made it 5-1 in the fourth as part of a three-run inning, chasing starter and loser Diegomar Markwell from the game. Medica's second RBI single then made it 6-1 off of reliever Kenny Berkenbosch, before a sacrifice fly pushed it 7-1.

The Americans took an early 3-0 lead in the first. Danks took the second pitch of the bottom of the first to right field for his second home run of the summer. Team USA then doubled the score on a play at the plate on a slow groundball to short that was dropped by catcher Sidney de Jong. A Josh Romanksi (San Diego) sacrifice fly then made it 3-0, the second unearned run of the inning.


TEAM NOTES
The Americans are 4-1 against Netherlands this summer, winning two of three in the States, prior to the tournament... standings heading into the final two scheduled days are Cuba at 6-0, Chinese Taipei at 3-4 and Japan at 0-7... Danks has hit safely in the last five World Port contests... the third double play of the night by the Americans came on a play in which Espinosa when behind the back at second, flipped to a bare-handed second baseman Ryan Flaherty and then over to first for the out in the fifth... the Toronto Blue Jay mascot was in attendance for the later game between the U.S. and the Netherlands... games can be followed live on the internet at http://www.worldporttournament.nl/ ... Stats are available at: http://utopia.ision.nl/users/hwede/stats07/wpt07/ and under live scoring.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Americans will play twice more to close out the summer with consecutive games against Chinese Taipei (8 a.m. Eastern) and Cuba (8 a.m.). The Finals between the top two teams are on August 12 at 7 a.m, Eastern, finishing the summer.

Ryan Davis and Mike Roskopf set to transfer

Ryan Davis of Vanderbilt is set to transfer to San Diego according to a few sources including Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com. Davis had become a role player in the 2007 season, splitting time with Parker Hanks and Matt Meingasner in left and at DH, after nearly capturing a batting crown by hitting .340 in SEC play in 2006. Due to the Senior year return of All-American RF Dom De la Osa, Vandy has four capable bodies competing for time in left field (Hanks, Jonathan White, red-shirt freshman Steven Liddle and highly touted freshman Joey Manning). With the opportunity to prove himself ahead of the 2008 draft, Davis stands to be a potential middle of the order bat for the Torreros and will have the opportunity to help contribute to the Toreros run to Omaha in 2008, while playing closer to his Arizona home. Thanks to NY Dore for providing the information used in this report.

Rivals.com is reporting that NC State first baseman/designated hitter Mike Roskopf is transferring to Southern California to play under Chad Kreuter. Roskopf hit .316 with 13 homers with 42 RBI. He will be an instant addition to the Trojans squad hopefully leading them to the Pac-10 Championship in 2008.

Cuba handles USA 8-2

Cuba took advantage of some sloppy Team USA defense to pull out an 8-2 victory in the final game of the first round of the World Port Tournament. Alfredo Despaigne went 2-3 with two homers and five RBI. His second homer came in the seventh inning when Cuba scored five runs to make a 3-2 game in a 8-2 advantage. Scott Gorgen (UC-Irvine) started for Team USA and gave them six solid innings while giving up three runs (one earned) but struck out ten batters without allowing a walk. Cuba ended up getting to reliever Josh Romanski (San Diego) for five runs in two innings of work. Yulieski Gonzalez started for the Cuban team and gave them 7.1 innings while giving up both runs. Arley Sanchez relieved Gonzalez while going 1.1 perfect innings before being lifted for Vicyohandri Odelin who got the final out of the game. Team USA was led on offense by Pedro Alvarez who homered for the third straight game while going 2-4 with 2 RBI. Team USA is back in action on Tuesday when they start the second round of the round robin tournament with Japan at 1 p.m. Eastern. Team USA is currently in a tie for second place with Chinese Taipei. The College Baseball Blog has found out that they are providing live scoring from the games which is available by clicking here.

Team USA Recap
Box Score

Team USA rallies for 2-1 victory

Team USA rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth inning to defeat the Netherlands 2-1 in Game two of their brief three game set. Team USA was down to their final out with Josh Romanski (San Diego) on second which represented the tying run and Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) up to bat. Alvarez came through with a double to drive in the tying run in Romanski. Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech) then hit a run scoring single to drive home Alvarez with the eventual winning run. The USA pitching staff was fantastic throughout the game as they only allowed one hit. Eric Surkamp (NC State) started for Team USA and went 5.2 innings while giving up the only hit and run of the game while walking the four batters. Brett Hunter (Pepperdine) relieved Surkamp and pitched a perfect 3.1 innings while striking out five. The teams will finish off a doubleheader on Sunday at 5 pm in Durham NC.

Team USA Story

UPDATE: You can watch tonight's game which started at 5 pm by clicking here.

Team USA adds four players

Team USA announced today that UC-Irvine pitcher Scott Gorgen, NC State pitcher Eric Surkamp, UNC-Wilmington pitcher Seth Frankoff, and Tyler Stovall from Hokes Bluff (HS) have joined the team starting on Friday when the team completes their series against China. They replace Brian Matusz, Jacob Thompson, and Lance Lynn who have all left the team to rest their arms until the next college season.

UC-Irvine Release
NC State Release
UNC-Wilmington Release

China drops Team USA 2-1

PRESS RELEASE
BIRMINGHAM, AL— China’s Kun Chen, Youhua Guo and Quansheng Zhao out dueled Team USA’s Lance Lynn (2-1) and Jordy Mercer as the Chinese (1-2) won the third game of the five-game series over the Americans (17-7), 2-1, on Wednesday evening. Team USA had won the first two games of the series.

Chen went the first six and two-thirds, giving up one run on seven hits, before yielding to Guo. Guo went an inning and one-third before yielding to Zhao in the ninth, who posted the save, despite putting the tying run on second base.

Brett Wallace (Arizona State) and Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) each had three of the Americans nine hits, who rested starting outfielders Jordan Danks (Texas) and Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) to begin the night.

Espinosa’s bunt base hit in the ninth sent the winning run to the plate against Zhao with one out. Espinosa was then balked to second. Zhao though got a flyout and strikeout to end the game.

An RBI single followed by a groundout gave China a 2-1 lead in the second, the second time in two nights the Chinese led early.

Lynn went the first four innings, giving up two runs on two hits. Mercer went the final six innings, not allowing a hit the rest of the way. He struck out eight on the night and did not walk a batter.

Wallace gave the Americans a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single.

TEAM NOTES
The game was delayed by over an hour due to a rain storm which started around 90 minutes prior to first pitch... Manager Mike Weathers played in the Oakland A’s minor league system in Birmingham, AL in the mid-1970’s for three years... RHPs Jacob Thompson (Virginia) and Brian Matusz (San Diego), neither of which are injured, left the team for precautionary reasons due to a high number of innings pitched over the previous eight months... Thompson finished the summer 1-2 with a 1.27 ERA, Matusz was 3-1 with a 1.33 ERA... junior national team invitee, Tyler Stovall, a lefthander/outfielder from Hokes Bluff (AL) High School joined the team on Wednesday and will be with the team through the end of the week... Team USA is now 2-2 against Communist-led governments over the last four games (China and Cuba).

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The five-game series with China continues in Rome, GA on Thursday and Ft. Mill, SC on Friday, finishing off the nine-game (two-day) American trip with the Netherlands and Russia in North Carolina... the team closes out their schedule at the World Port Tournament in the Netherlands starting on August 2.

Team USA picks up second win over China

Team USA got four runs in the middle innings to knock off China 4-1 in the second game of their five game series. Team USA was led on the mound by Josh Romanski (San Diego), Brett Hunter (Pepperdine), and Cody Satterwhite (Ole Miss). Romanski started for Team USA and went four innings while giving up one run on six hits with six strikeouts. He ended up getting a no decision as Brett Hunter (1-0) picked up the win by going the middle four innings without allowing a run on one hit and two walks. Cody Satterwhite pitched a perfect ninth inning to get his fourth save. Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) went 2-4 with a run scored to lead the offensive attack for the national team. Brett Wallace (Arizona State) got a run-scoring double to help the offensive attack. Team USA and China will play on Wednesday at 7 pm in Birmingham (AL).

Team USA Recap

Team USA to take on Cuba for Gold Medal

Press Release

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL--- Cody Satterwhite (Ole Miss) saved both ends of Team USA’s (15-5, 4-0 Pan Am Games) doubleheader at the Pan American Games, defeating Brazil 7-5 in the play-in game and then moving onto the Gold Medal Game following a 2-1 victory over Mexico. The Americans, who have won one gold medal (1967) and eight silver medals since 1951 at these Games, will face Cuba, who won their pool following a 4-0 victory over Nicaragua.

“Our goal for the summer was to play for a goal medal, and that’s where we are at,” said Manager Mike Weathers. “To win a double header in international play, is very difficult, and I’m proud of our guys today and the obstacles they had to face. We will be ready to go tomorrow.”

Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) had two multi-hit games today, giving him four for the Games, as he went 3-for-4 with the game-winning RBI against Mexico, after going 2-for-3 with a key two-run single against Brazil.

“I felt good today. Playing for a gold medal means a lot,” said Satterwhite. “Good hitting got us into the finals, and we continue to play well.”

Brian Matusz (1-0, San Diego) threw six and one third innings in the semifinal win, giving it over to the bullpen with a 2-1 lead after giving just three hits and five strikeouts. Francisco Campos countered with two runs on seven hits, pitching into the seventh, taking the loss for Mexico.

“It was exciting to pitch in a semifinal game, maybe outside the gold medal, our most important game,” said Matusz. “I didn’t know a lot about Mexico, but I knew they had some power by the way they swung the bat. My off speed pitch was not great, but I was spotting my fastball and my changeup was getting grounders and popups.”

USA reliever Brett Hunter retired six in a row and two and one-third overall, before Benjamin Gil hit a two-out double in the ninth. Satterwhite, after walking a batter, got a lineout of Ivan Terrazas to pick up his third save of the summer.

Team USA took a 2-1 lead on Mexico in the fifth with an RBI double by Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech) and an RBI single from Forsythe.

The Americans guaranteed the No. 1 seed in Pool A earlier in the day, holding on for a 7-5 win over host Brazil, thanks to a five-run seventh inning.

Joe Kelly (1-0, UC Riverside) got the win in relief, as Satterwhite came on with the bases loaded and no outs with a three-run lead in the ninth and got the save.

Claudio Yamada, the third of four pitchers in the seventh, threw eight-straight balls to walk the go-ahead run in for the Americans to ignite the inning. A Forsythe two-run single followed, before a Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) double made it 7-2.

Ryan Berry (Rice) gave up four hits and two runs over five and one third innings, but walked five, as the Americans tied the game in the sixth and second innings.

U.S. PAN AMERICAN NOTES
The Americans have won a medal in 14 out of the previous 16 games since the games started in 1951. They won their only gold medal in 1967 in Canada, and finished a runner-up another eight times. In their last series in 2003, when Manager Mike Weathers and assistant Mark Scalf were assistants, Team USA finished with a silver medal to Cuba... Team USA’s pitching staff was called for 12 walks on Wednesday, after averaging just under three per game over the first 18 games.

TOURNAMENT NOTES
With Mexico winning the continued game over Venezuela 3-2 in 10 innings, Cuba earned the No. 1 seed in Pool B and Mexico was the No. 2 seed.... Nicaragua defeated the Dominican Republic 2-0 in the other play-in game, giving Nicaragua and the Dominican 1-2 records in Pool B, and guaranteeing the Americans a medal game about 90 minutes prior to USA’s final pitch against Brazil.

2008 MLB Prospects

We can now look ahead to the 2008 MLB Draft prospects as Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) and Justin Smoak (South Carolina) lead the draft eligible players. They will also be joined by pitchers Jacob Thompson (UVA) and Brian Matusz (USD). All four of these players are on Team USA this summer as the team will take part in the Pan-American games and the World Port Tournament in the Netherlands. Ike Davis (Arizona State) and Jordan Danks (Texas) also get some talk about being in the top of the 2008 draft. We have found two sites that are already giving their predictions on the upcoming draft which can be read about by clicking the links below.

MLB.com
Project Prospect

USA drops game to Chinese Taipei

USA Baseball Release

CARY, NC— Wei-Hua Lee (2-0) pitched a complete-game, seven hitter as Chinese Taipei (2-3) scored two runs in the top of the seventh to defeat Team USA (8-2) 3-2 on Monday morning. Lee struck out four and walked one. The five-game series continues in Kannapolis, NC on Tuesday at 7 p.m. after the U.S. won the first three games.

The American bullpen blew a one-run lead in the seventh when Josh Romanski (0-1, San Diego) put two runners on and Joe Kelly (UC Riverside) walked the bases full Kelly then gave up a two-run single to Ying-Chien Liao to give CTBA a 3-2 lead.

Reliever Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) kept the game to within one, getting three consecutive outs after Kelly walked two straight to begin the inning.

Back-to-back RBI singles by Brett Wallace (Arizona State) and Petey Paramore (ASU) gave the Americans a 2-1 lead in the fourth.

The Taiwanese took a 1-0 lead in the first off of Ryan Berry (Rice) on an RBI double from Chien-Ming Su. Berry was making his first start for Team USA since pitching for Rice in the College World Series. Berry went the first six innings, giving up one run on four hits, using just 68 pitches.

TEAM NOTES
Taiwanese starter Wei-Hua Lee was making his second start on the American tour. He gave up one run on five hits in CTBA’s first game on Thursday... the team’s start time of 10 a.m. is the second earliest start of the season. They play host Brazil on the third day of the Pan American Games at 9 a.m.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Chinese Taipei series closes out in Kannapolis, NC (July 3) at 7 p.m. The 10-game North Carolina home stand continues with Japan on July 4, beginning a five-game series in Durham, NC (July 4, 6, 7, 8) and Kannapolis (July 5).