U.S. Advance to Gold Medal Game With Wild Victory Over Cuba
October 25, 2011 | Baseball
LAGOS DE MORENO, Mexico -- In what is sure to go down as one of the most thrilling chapters in the storied USA/Cuba rivalry, the U.S. held on Monday for a 12-10 win and now advances to Tuesday's gold medal final, against Canada, set for 8 p.m. ET.
Team USA jumped out to a 12-2 lead through four frames, but Cuba would not go quietly, chipping away at the U.S. lead with eight runs over the next five innings. U.S. closer Scott Patterson came in with two outs in the eighth, however, and allowed only one hit in retiring the final four Cuban batters of the game. Patterson got Cuban slugger Frederich Cepeda to pop-up to third baseman Tommy Mendonca for the final out of the game to nail down the save (1).
Brett Carroll continued his stellar Pan Am Games, going 2-for-3 with three runs scored to push his team-leading average for the tournament to a blistering .643 (9-for-14). The outfielder led a balanced U.S. attack that saw each of Team USA's nine batters record at least one hit.
Chuckie Fick (1-0) earned the win for the U.S. He came in for starter Todd Remond and was later relieved by Randy Williams, Pete Andrelczyk, Justin Cassel, and Patterson.
With the win, the U.S. advances to its fourth straight Pan Am gold medal game. The Americans have not won Pan Am gold since 1967 and have lost the previous three finals to Cuba. Tuesday will mark the first time since the 1959 Pan Ams that Cuba will not play for gold and the first time since its loss to the U.S. in 1967 that it will not win a Pan Am gold medal.
Team USA was set to face Canada earlier this month in the bronze medal game of the IBAF World Cup in Panama, but the game was rained out, resulting in a tie.
