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USA National Team knocked out of NBC World Series
August 14, 1999
The USA Baseball National Team was eliminated from the NBC World Series after an 11-9 loss to the San Diego Stars Saturday afternoon at Lawrence Dumont Stadium. The loss ended the summer for Team USA as they finished with an overall record of 25-14 and in a seventh place tie at the NBC World Series.
Four outs away from winning the game, Team USA squandered a 9-6 lead in the eighth inning and then allowed the Stars to score two more runs in the ninth - all with two outs. USA Reliever Ben Diggins (RHP, Fr, Arizona) allowed a single and an error by Koyie Hill (2B, So, Wichita State) before walking two more batters and tossing a wild pitch to give San Diego the victory.
Already having scored one run in the eighth, San Diego's Ramsey Ochoa tied the game at 9-9 with a two-run double into the left-center field gap off USA reliever Kyle Crowell (RHP, So, Houston).
The Stars took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Cole Holland and Aaron Strangefeld hit back-to-back doubles off Team USA starter Aaron Heilman (RHP, So, Notre Dame). But the National Team tied the score at one when Daylan Holt (RF, So, Texas A&M) singled and came home on Mike Tonis' (C, So, California) two-out double in the bottom of the second off San Diego starter Chris Gunnett.
The Stars tallied four times in the third inning after Brian Sos drove in Adrian Mora with a sacrifice fly and Holland followed with a two-run opposite field homer that knocked Heilman out of the game. San Diego then strung together a walk and two singles for a run off USA reliever Shane Nance (LHP, Jr, Houston) to earn a 5-1 advantage.
San Diego's lead wasn't held for long though, as Team USA put up four runs of their own in the bottom of the third to tie the game back up at 5-5. A run-scoring triple by Keoni DeRenne (SS, So, Arizona) along with two singles and an error produced the rally.
Team USA then took advantage of some sloppy San Diego defense by scoring three unearned runs. A pair of errors, a bases-loaded walk to DeRenne, and a run-scoring wild pitch by reliever Walter Harrington gave the National Team an 8-5 margin. San Diego picked up a run in the seventh, but once again Team USA matched it. Tyrell Godwin (CF, So, North Carolina) hit a two-out double that scored Holt - who had doubled as well - to make it a 9-6 game. The Stars then began their late-inning comeback to steal the win.
Diggins (2-1) suffered his first loss of the summer for the National Team. Stars reliever Todd Holverson earned the victory with 3.0 innings of relief.
Click here for the official article on the Texas A&M Website
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