USA Baseball Falls to Korea 2-1

USA Baseball Falls to Korea 2-1

7/22/2006

DURHAM, N.C. ­­— Korea held the USA Baseball National Team to one run on seven hits in a 2-1 win Saturday night at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

It was the first loss of the summer season for the US which dropped to 14-1, while the Koreans evened their ledger at 1-1. The teams will play the rubber game of the three game series Sunday evening at 5 p.m. ET at the DBAP.

The teams were locked in a pitcher’s duel until the bottom of the sixth when Korea struck for two runs. Jang Hyon Gi walked and scored when Lee Hee Keun’s double off of the wall in left field was mishandled by Darwin Barney (Oregon State) allowing Gi to score from third. Lee advanced to third on a fielding error by shortstop Zack Cozart (Ole Miss) and then scored on a squeeze bunt by Kim Kang Suk to make it 2-0.

The National Team charged right back in the seventh when J.P. Arencibia (Tennessee) doubled to left field and scored on a RBI single by Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech). The USA’s rally attempt was cut short with two outs and the tying run at third base when Todd Frazier’s (Rutgers) looping line drive to center was caught by the diving Lee Ho Sin.

Nick Schmidt (Arkansas) was charged with the loss to drop to 1-1 on the summer. He gave up both runs, one earned, on two hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in five innings of work. Tommy Hunter (Alabama) and Casey Weathers (Vanderbilt) pitched the final three innings of scoreless ball to keep the deficit at one run.

Oh Hyeong Joon (1-0) picked up the win for Korea, allowing one run on four hits in 6.1 innings of action with two strikeouts and a walk. Lee In Chul pitched the final 1.2 innings of scoreless relief with two strikeouts to pick up the save.

Jeon Jun Woo had two of Korea’s five hits on the night to lead the squad.

USA 000 000 100 -1 7 2

KOREA 000 002 00x -2 5 0

Schmidt, Hunter (6), Weathers (7) and Arencibia. Oh, Jung (7), Lee (8) and Lee. W- Oh 1-0, L- Schmidt 1-1. SV- Lee (1). HR- None.