LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – For the fourth consecutive game, the 15U National Team shutout Australia, winning 8-0 Wednesday night at Georgia Gwinnett College. Team USA has outscored its opposition 41-0 over the past four games and the squad shows no signs of slowing down heading into the final day of competition.
Team USA grabbed an early lead in the first and never looked back, plating at least one run in four innings en route to capturing its fourth straight win. While big hits once again filled up the stat sheet, it was a combination of selfless at-bats and patience at the plate that led Team USA to victory. Just as impressive as the offense, was the defense, as great plays preserved the shutout and kept Team USA’s energy high. First, it was Andrew Jimenez in inning four, when the shortstop backhanded a ground ball deep in the hole, found his footing, and fired a laser to first to flip the frame. An inning later, a relay from the outfield to home played out to perfection, as Dexter McCleon Jr. found cutoff man Jimenez who delivered a ball directly on target to home to deny Australia’s first run of the week.
For the third game in a row, a Team USA pitcher tallied a 5.0 inning outing, as starting pitcher Gavin Markus pumped out strikes and worked around the Australian lineup in impressive fashion. Markus mixed in seven punchouts and no free passes in his performance while Carter Shouse closed out the contest and threw 2.0 no-hit innings while striking out five batters. Outfielders Jacob Seamon and Jared Grindlinger stayed hot at the plate for the U.S., Seamon went 2-for-4 with two extra-base hits and three runs scored while Grindlinger notched a 2-for-2, three RBI performance.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- A leadoff double by Seamon immediately energized Team USA’s bench in the team’s first night game of the week. After Rocco Maniscalco reached via walk, a double steal scored Seamon and made it 1-0 early.
- One more run scored as the result of a sacrifice fly off the bat of Grindlinger, plating Maniscalco with ease.
- Team USA one-upped themselves an inning later, as a sequence of five walks and a hit-by-pitch scored three and gave the U.S. a comfortable five-run lead.
- After a short scoring hiatus in the third, the U.S. strung together three singles in the fourth, beginning with a Parker Leoff leadoff base knock and ending with a Grindlinger RBI single to right field.
- A quick 1-2-3 inning by Markus in the home half of the fourth fired up Team USA and powered more offensive action in the fifth.
- Shouse’s leadoff triple in the fifth frame found the left center gap and allowed for Jimenez to put bat to ball for a sacrifice fly, making it 7-0.
- Immediately after Jimenez’s sac fly and in an identical sequence of events, Seamon tripled to right field and came around to score after Leoff drove an 0-2 offering high into the night sky for another sacrifice fly, giving the U.S. an 8-0 advantage.
NOTABLES
- The 15U National Team has now won 13 straight games against International Competition.
- The last time four or more shutouts were tossed in a single year of competition was 2018, when the 15U National Team threw four shutouts in the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup Finals.
- Team USA’s pitching staff has collected double-digit strikeouts for the third time in four games.
- Maniscalco and Seamon currently hold four game hit streaks while Seamon leads all players in doubles (3).
- Grindlinger is on a tear for Team USA, the everyday right fielder is currently batting .800, leads the team in hits (8), triples (2), and RBIs (12).
ON DECK
Team USA wraps up the International Friendship Series and will play Australia one final time tomorrow, September 12, at East Cobb Baseball Complex. First pitch will be thrown at 4:00 p.m. ET; fans can follow live stats on GameChanger and the games will also be live streamed to the USA Baseball YouTube channel.
SOCIAL MEDIA
To follow along with all the action with the 15U National Team, be sure to follow @USABaseball15U on Twitter and @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.
