USA World Cup Team Shows No Mercy To China, France

Complete Coverage of USA Baseball World Cup Team

By John Manuel
October 19, 2003

USA Baseball's team of independent leaguers stayed undefeated in the 35th World Cup in Cuba, beating China and France over the weekend to move to 5-0 in pool play.

Team USA is in Group B and faced a showdown with the other undefeated team in the group, Japan. The only other undefeated team is host Cuba. Team USA turned a 1-1 tie game against China into an easy win with solid offense and a six-inning start by righthander Hank Thoms (Fargo-Moorhead).

Thomas struck out seven and walked none, only giving up a solo home run in the first to Qu Wei Feng. Feng has three home runs, tied for third in the tournament. Relievers Mike Guilfoyle (Bridgeport), Tim Christman (St. Paul) and D.J. Johnson (Kansas City) held China hitless through the final 3.0 innings of the game. A home run helped Team USA take the lead as well, as Josh Patton (Lincoln) connected with a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning.

Team USA took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, getting an RBI single from shortstop Alex Eckelman (Camden) and an RBI groundout from outfielder Rolo Avila (Bridgeport). On Friday, Team USA routed France 14-2, though the winless French got on the board first with three hits and two runs off American starter Jake Whitney (St. Paul). Team USA got four runs in the bottom half with an RBI from Robbie Kison and a three-run homer by outfielder Darren Blakely (Brockton) to make it 4-2.

Henry Berrios (Winnipeg) later hit a three-run homer, and Vic Davilla (Allentown) had a three-run double in the sixth to make it 14-2. The game was ended in the seventh inning by the 10-run mercy rule.