ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9608020052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMO: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.
JAPAN LAUNCHES five home runs to deny the favored Americans a chance at a gold medal with an 11-2 victory.
Kris Benson put his pitching hand on his hip and watched in disbelief as another ball cleared the wall. Like the rest of the U.S. baseball team, he couldn't believe it was ending this way.
A team that reached the verge of the gold-medal game by hitting home runs got knocked out Thursday by giving them up. Japan hit five in all - three off Benson - for a 11-2 semifinal victory.
Instead of a Cuba-U.S. rematch for the gold medal today, it will be Japan (4-4) trying to deny the Cubans a second Olympic gold. The United States (6-2) will play Nicaragua (4-4) for the bronze.
Once again, the United States found itself unable to beat Japan in an important Olympic game. The Japanese beat the Americans 6-3 in the final game in Los Angeles in 1984, when baseball was a demonstration sport.
In Barcelona four years ago, Japan beat the United States 8-3 to win the bronze and send the Americans home empty-handed.
The odds seemed to be on the United States' side this time. The Americans beat the Japanese team twice during their pre-Games exhibition tour and rolled to a 15-5 victory in the round-robin game by hitting an Olympic-record five home runs in the first inning.
They got only one Thursday, and it came after Japan had rebuilt its confidence with a 6-0 lead. Matt LeCroy's two-run shot in the sixth off starter Masanori Sugiura put the home team in striking distance and drew a ringing ``USA! USA!'' chant from the crowd of 47,310.
The cheers died an inning later when Nobuhiko Matsunaka hit a two-run homer off Jeff Weaver. Stunned silence followed Tadahito Iguchi's solo homer in the eighth, which made it 9-2.
Most of the crowd had filed out before Warren Morris grounded out to end it. The Japanese exchanged high-fives behind the pitcher's mound before the Americans came out of the dugout to congratulate them.
Even before Japan's drives started finding the seats, the Americans had an inkling it was not to be. They threatened but failed to score in the first inning, which traditionally is their best. Fifteen of their 28 tournament homers came in the first, leading to 27 runs.
They put together two singles off starter Masanori Sugiura, but LeCroy grounded out to leave the United States with a first-inning zero for the first time since its tournament-opening game two weeks ago.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB