Canada at The 2004 Summer Olympics - Baseball

Baseball

Canada's baseball team did very well in the initial stages of the round-robin winning their four first games. Despite losses to Japan and Cuba, they rebounded in their final game vs. Australia. Most notable has been the performance of second baseman Richard "Stubby" Clapp.

With a 5-2 record in the preliminary round, Canada finished in 3rd position, behind Japan and Cuba and ahead of Australia. In the semi-finals on August 24, Canada lost 8-5 to Cuba. Canada was leading Cuba 3-2 going into the bottom of the eighth inning but then gave up 6 runs. The game ended in dramatic fashion when Canadian Kevin Nicholson almost hit a game tying homer in the 9th. However, a heavy wind was blowing in from left field that night, which caused the ball to come down inches from the wall and was caught. Japan lost 1-0 to Australia in a surprising result in the other semifinal, almost ruining Canada's hopes for a medal in Baseball, which would later prove true as Canada lost to Japan on August 25 in the Bronze medal game, thereby finishing fourth.

Team Roster

Manager: 12 - Ernie Whitt

Coaches: 42 - Denis Boucher, 7 - Marty Lehn, 10 - Greg Hamilton, 21 - Tim Leiper.

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Club
2 OF Rob Ducey May 24, 1965
4 IF Peter Orr June 8, 1979 Richmond Braves
11 IF Richard Clapp February 24, 1973 Syracuse Sky Chiefs
13 P Phil Devey May 31, 1977 Long Island Ducks
14 P Thomas Whitty September 6, 1981 Durham Bulls
16 IF Kevin Nicholson March 29, 1976 Altoona Curve
17 IF Danny Klassen September 22, 1975 Toledo Mud Hens
19 OF Adam Stern February 12, 1980 Greenville Braves
20 IF Todd Betts June 24, 1973 Columbus Clippers
24 P Shawn Hill April 28, 1981 Harrisburg Senators
25 P Mike Johnson October 3, 1975 Edmonton Trappers
26 OF Jeremy Ware October 23, 1975 Harrisburg Senators
27 OF Jeff Guiel January 12, 1974 Syracuse Sky Chiefs
28 C Andy Stewart December 5, 1970
29 P Jason Dickson March 30, 1973 Omaha Royals
30 C Pierre-Luc Laforest January 27, 1978 Durham Bulls
31 P Aaron Myette September 26, 1977 Louisville Bats
32 P Mike Kusiewicz November 1, 1976 Indianapolis Indians
33 IF Simon Pond October 27, 1976 Syracuse Sky Chiefs
34 P Chris Begg July 8, 1974 San Jose Giants
35 OF Ryan Radmanovich August 9, 1971 Somerset Patriots
36 P Paul Spoljaric September 24, 1970
37 P Eric Cyr February 11, 1979 Salt Lake Stingers
38 P John Ogiltree June 3, 1978 New Hampshire Fisher Cats
40 P Chris Mears January 20, 1978 Toledo Mud Hens
Preliminary Round
Team W L Tiebreaker
Japan 6 1 1-0
Cuba 6 1 0-1
Canada 5 2 -
Australia 4 3 -
Chinese Taipei 3 4 -
Netherlands 2 5 -
Greece 1 6 1-0
Italy 1 6 0-1


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 4
Canada 0 2 0 1 0 0 2 2 X 7 9 1
WP: Mike Johnson (1–0) LP: Chang Chih-Chia (0–1)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Italy 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 9 4
Canada 2 7 0 0 0 4 0 0 X 9 6 0
WP: Jason Dickson (1–0) LP: David Rollandini (0–1)
Home runs:
ITA: None
CAN: Pete Laforest (1)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Canada 0 3 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 7 11 0
Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
WP: Shawn Hill (1–0) LP: Patrick Beljaards (0–1)
Home runs:
CAN: Stubby Clapp (1), Pete Orr (1), Pete Laforest (2)
NED: None
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Canada 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 5 0
Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3
WP: Paul Spoljaric (1–0) LP: Meleti Ross Melehes (0–1) Sv: Aaron Myette (1)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 1
Japan 2 1 1 3 1 0 0 1 X 9 11 0
WP: Tsuyoshi Wada (1–0) LP: Mike Johnson (1–1)
Home runs:
CAN: None
JPN: Yoshitomo Tani (1), Yoshinobu Takahashi (1), Kazuhiro Wada (2)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cuba 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 10 0
Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 7 1
WP: Norberto Gonzalez (1–0) LP: Jason Dickson (1–1) Sv: Pedro Luis Lazo (2)
Home runs:
CUB: Antonio Scull (1)
CAN: None
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Canada 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 6 11 12 0
Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2
WP: Phil Devey (1–0) LP: Adrian Burnside (0–1)
Home runs:
CAN: Jeremy Ware (1), Ryan Radmanovich (1)
AUS: None
Semifinal
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Canada 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 5 9 1
Cuba 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 X 8 13 2
WP: Danny Betancourt (1–0) LP: Chris Begg (0–1) Sv: Norberto Gonzalez (1)
Home runs:
CAN: Ryan Radmanovich (2)
CUB: None
Bronze Medal Game
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Japan 2 0 4 1 0 0 0 4 0 11 13 0
Canada 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 5 0
WP: Tsuyoshi Wada (2–0) LP: Mike Johnson (1–2)
Home runs:
JPN: Kenji Johjima (2)
CAN: Jeremy Ware (2)

Read more about this topic:  Canada At The 2004 Summer Olympics

Famous quotes containing the word baseball:

    “Spooky things happen in houses densely occupied by adolescent boys. When I checked out a four-inch dent in the living room ceiling one afternoon, even the kid still holding the baseball bat looked genuinely baffled about how he possibly could have done it.”
    —Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)

    “It is not heroin or cocaine that makes one an addict, it is the need to escape from a harsh reality. There are more television addicts, more baseball and football addicts, more movie addicts, and certainly more alcohol addicts in this country than there are narcotics addicts.”
    —Shirley Chisholm (b. 1924)

    “The salary cap ... will be accepted about the time the 13 original states restore the monarchy.”
    —Tom Reich, U.S. baseball agent. New York Times, p. 16B (August 11, 1994)