Sparks Voted Top American Player, Team USA Loses Series to Japan, 7-4
July 11, 2013 | Baseball
TOKYO, Japan --- Taylor Sparks was 2 for 5 with an RBI and voted the top American player but the Collegiate National Team lost the decisive fifth game of the 39th edition of the USA-Japan International Collegiate Friendly Series, 7-3.
Sparks singled in the USA second and advanced to third but was left stranded before tacking on an RBI hit in the seventh to trim Japan's lead to three. Sparks moved into the team lead with a .421 batting average. He is tied for second with 16 hits and tied for third with nine runs batted in.
"The series came down to who pitched better, who played better defense and who got the timely hits. Obviously Japan did that and that's why they won the series," remarked manager Jim Schlossnagle (TCU). "I'm proud of the effort from our guys but you have to tip your cap to Japan. They pitched better than us and we didn't adjust to what they were doing on the mound."
Japan took an early 1-0 lead in the first on four straight hits against starter Luke Weaver (Florida State). The U.S. countered in the top of the third, scoring one run on a wild pitch and one on a single through the left side by Matt Chapman (CS Fullerton) to take a 2-1 edge.
Japan answered in the bottom half of the frame with a pair of runs to reclaim the 3-2 lead and the see-saw battle continued in the fourth as Team USA tied the game at 3-3 on a base hit from Austin Cousino (Kentucky).
A walk, stolen base and a passed ball put a runner on third for Japan in the bottom of the fourth. Following the second walk of the inning, Hiroki Mineo singled to drive in the go-ahead run and Shori Okido's groundout would drive in the insurance run at 5-3.
Japan added two runs in the fifth on back-to-back home runs.
TCU's Brandon Finnegan (2-1) took the loss after surrendering the go-ahead runs in the fourth inning.
The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team will return to U.S. soil Saturday to begin preparations for the USA-Cuba Friendly series which is slated to open on July 18 in Des Moines, Iowa. Team USA will play a pair of exhibition contests in the Chicago area before heading to Iowa. First up is a meeting against the Crystal Lake Cardinals at Judson University in Elgin, Ill. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. (ET) on Monday, July 15.
