| [ SportsLeisure ] in KIDS 글 쓴 이(By): god (부리^2박사�) 날 짜 (Date): 1996년07월23일(화) 12시06분43초 KDT 제 목(Title): [Baseball] US 7 : Korea 2 Baseball: United States 7, South Korea 2 10:53 PM Mon Jul 22 By JOE KAY AP Sports Writer (AP) -- A month after he became a college legend with a dramatic homer, Warren Morris became a national hero with another. Morris' three-run homer to deep center field broke open a tied game Monday night and kept the U.S. baseball team undefeated with a 7-2 victory over South Korea. The United States improved to 2-0 and remained at the front of the pack in the seven-game round-robin tournament, which cuts the field to four teams for medal play. South Korea, projected as one of the medal-round teams, is 0-2. After a flat performance in their opener against Nicaragua, the Americans put it all together Monday night in front of a crowd that cheered their pitching -- which was shaky, but effective -- and their defense, which was nothing short of sensational. The biggest ovation went to Morris, a squat second baseman who won the College World Series for LSU last month with a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was the first such homer in CWS history. With two out and the game tied 1-all in the fourth, Morris badly missed Choi Man-ho's first pitch, a breaking ball in the dirt. The next pitch came in belt high and went out with a loud crack, landing in the seats in center field. Morris raised both arms, let out a whoop and punched the muggy night air with his fist as he rounded the bases. U.S. players raced from the dugout to form a line at home plate, sensing it would be the turning point. Seth Greisinger and the bullpen proved them right. The right-hander from Virginia repeatedly pitched out of trouble -- he gave up seven hits and two runs over six innings -- and got a couple of outstanding defensive plays to hold the lead. The most devastating came in the fifth, when Greisinger's batterymate blocked Korea from snatching back the momentum. Chea Jong-kook tried to score from second on Jason Williams' fielding error, but the shortstop retrieved the ball and threw to catcher A.J. Hinch. Chea beat the throw, but Hinch threw his left leg out to block the plate. Umpire Jose Reyes of Mexico immediately called Chea out, and the TV replay supported the call. The South Koreans seethed. They already were upset with Reyes, who took them out of their slow, deliberate style by forcing batters to get in the box and ordering their pitchers to throw within the required 20 seconds. After the call at home ended the top of the fifth inning, manager Kim Choong-nam kept his team in the dugout for about a minute in protest. The Koreans took the field only after the umpires walked over to the dugout and waved them out. An inning later, center fielder Jacque Jones took away several runs by leaping against the wall to catch Cho In-sung's drive with the bases loaded, allowing only one run to score to cut it to 4-2. Jones also had a diving catch in the third. A pair of fielding errors handed the United States a run in the fifth, Travis Lee drove in his second run of the game with a groundout in the seventh, and Chad Allen hit a solo homer in the eighth to help the United States win going away. |