Aug. 10, 2003
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – Justin Orenduff (Chesapeake, Va.) hurled a two-hit shutout and Brent Lillibridge (Everett, Wa.) went 3-for-5 with three RBI as the USA Baseball National Team, under head coach Ray Tanner (Columbia, S.C.) advanced to the semifinals of the 2003 Pan American Games with a 7-0 win vs. Brazil. The win improves Team USA to 26-1 on the summer and 4-1 at this year’s Pan Am Games. All four wins at the Pan Am Games have been shutouts for the Red, White & Blue. The squad has set a season record with 13 on the summer. Tanner and Carolina left-handed pitcher Matt Campbell are representing the University of South Carolina on this year’s USA National Team.
Team USA will face Mexico in the semifinals on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Estadio Quisqueya. Cuba and Nicaragua are scheduled for the other semifinal with first pitch set for 7:30 p.m. The gold medal and bronze medal games will be played on Tuesday, August 12.
“Justin Orenduff pitched a terrific game and gave us a chance to win,” said USA head coach Ray Tanner. “We beat a very scrappy Brazil team and were able to get clutch hitting down the order from Brent Lillibridge and Mike Nickeas .” Orenduff was in control for most of the evening and finished with eight strikeouts and allowing just three walks. The only two hits off Orenduff came from Brazil cleanup hitter Elson Nishimura. The win for Orenduff was his sixth of the year, a team-high, and his second of the Pan Am Games. Orenduff has pitched 14 shutout innings at the Pan Am Games.
Team USA broke open a scoreless tie in the third inning with three runs off Brazil starter Jo Matumoto. Danny Putnam (Escondido, Calif.) was hit by a pitch and Seth Smith (Mississippi) walked to set the table for Mike Nickeas (Westlake Village, Calif.), who knocked a one-out RBI single to left field scoring Putnam. USA increased the lead to 3-0 on a two-out RBI double from Lillibridge, his second double of the Pan Am Games and sixth of the summer.
Orenduff got in a tight spot in the fourth inning as walks to Ricardo Imamura and Celso Nakano and a base hit by Elson Nishimura loaded the bases for Brazil with one out. Orenduff worked out of the jam by getting Luis Camargo to ground into a 6-3 double play ending the Brazilian opportunity.
The USA knocked Matumoto out of the ball game in the fifth inning scoring two more runs to extend the lead to 5-0. Smith led off the inning with a walk, Nickeas was hit by a pitch and Jeff Clement (Marshalltown, Iowa) bunted for a single to load the bases with no outs. Lillibridge collected his third RBI of the night with a base hit through the left side to score Smith and ending the night for Matumoto.
Eric Patterson (Kennesaw, Ga.) added a RBI sacrifice fly off Brazil reliever Rodrigo Koroishi as the USA went up by five runs. Two more runs in the sixth inning increased the lead to 7-0 as a RBI double by Nickeas scored Jeff Larish and Smith to complete the scoring. The USA ended the evening with eight hits vs. Brazil. All eight hits came from the bottom five batters in the USA batting order.
The USA also walked 11 times on the night, a season-high, as all nine batters at least reached base once. Clement and Smith lead the Red, White & Blue with three walks apiece.
