The Americans won the Olympic gold medal in the year 2000, but didn’t succeed to qualify for the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. This year the United States of America’s Olympic Baseball Team earned the right to participate in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing by beating Panama 11 – 5 on Sunday night. Cuba also qualified for the Olympics after winning the game against Mexico 4 – 0. Both qualified teams will play against each other next Tuesday. The U.S. record stands at 5-1 in the tournament, while Cuba is 6-0. Tuesday marks the final game for both teams.
During the U.S. – Panama game, Bobby Hill had three hits with an RBI (Run Batted In) and scored twice for the USA’s team, which fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, but scored 10 runs over the next four frames. Michael Bourn and Billy Butler had two runs each one for the U.S. and two RBIs. Michael Bourn tripled in two runs in the bottom of the second inning letting USA’s score ahead of its opponent’s and then knocked out Panama starter Elpidio Pinto by scoring three times in the third.
Greg Smith allowed one run, struck out five and walked two in 3 1/3 innings for the United States. Nic Ungs tossed the next 3 2/3 frames for the win.
Baseball is the first sport in which Americans have earned a spot in the 2008 Olympics. Baseball game’s inventors and the champions of the 2000 Sydney Olympics missed the 2004 Olympics as they didn’t get to qualify at the Americas Qualifier.
