Chinese National Team Holds Off Swamp Bats, 9-7
2008 Beijing Summer Games hosts open 9-1 lead early,
hold off late Keene charge
RINDGE, N.H. (June 25, 2008) – The National Baseball Team for
the People’s Republic of China held off a late rally by the
Keene Swamp Bats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
to post a 9-7 victory before 901 at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas
Field on the campus of Franklin Pierce University tonight.
Centerfielder Sun Lingfeng (Beijing/Beijing Tigers), catcher
Wang Wei (Beijing/AZL Mariners) and leftfielder Wang Chao
(Tianjin/Tianjin Tigers) led a 16-hit attack for the Chinese
National Team, which will represent the host country in the
baseball tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing
with three hits each. Lingfeng was 3-for-5 with a home run,
while Wei hit 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a run scored and
three RBI. Chao finished 3-for-5 with an RBI. Shortstop Zhang
Yufeng (Shanghai/Shanghai Eagles) batted 2-for-5 with a double,
RBI and run scored, while designated hitter Hou Fenglian
(Tianjin/Tianjin Lions) scored three runs and stole four bases
in the contest.
Righthander Li Chenhao (Beijing/Beijing Tigers) picked up the
win on the mound, allowing two earned runs on five hits with a
strikeout and walk over four innings. Righthander Chen Kun
(Sichuan/Sichuan Dragons) pinned down the save with a scoreless
and hitless ninth, working around a two-out walk.
John Barr (Ivylans, Pa./Virginia) led Keene’s nine-hit attack,
hitting 2-for-3 with two triples and four RBI. Shortstop Chris
Tremblay (Cranberry Township, Pa./Kent State) batted 2-for-4
with a double and run scored, while first baseman Paul Karmas
(Douglaston, N.Y./Saint John’s) chipped in by going 1-for-2 with
an RBI.
Lefthander Tom Cote (Swanzey, N.H./Franklin Pierce) took the
loss, surrendering seven runs, six earned, on eight hits with
four strikeouts and two walks over 2.2 innings.
China jumped ahead as its first batter of the night, Lingfeng,
laced a lead off homerun down the rightfield line. Fenglian
followed with a walk, stole second and third before scoring on a
wild pitch. The Swamp Bats got one of those runs back in the
home half of the first as Tremblay led off with a double down
the rightfield line and scored on a single to left by Karmas.
China added a single run in the second with an RBI single by Sun
Wei (Beijing/Beijing Tigers), before breaking the game open with
a four-run third to chase Cote. Wang Wei and Yufeng each posted
RBI doubles, before Li Lei (Beijing/Beijing Tigers) drove in a
run with a sacrifice fly and Chao notched an RBI single.
The teams traded single run innings through the middle frames,
before Keene got back in the contest with a four-run seventh. A
hit batter, walk and single loaded the bases for the Swamp Bats
with one, before Barr cleared the bases with a triple down the
rightfield line. Barr scored on a passed ball and Keene loaded
the bases again, but stranded them all to end the rally.
Keene (9-6, 9-4 NECBL) is back in action tomorrow night when it
hosts the Pittsfield (Mass.) Dukes in an NECBL interdivisional
battle at Alumni Field in Keene at 7 p.m. The Chinese National
Team is back in action on Friday, when it faces the Lowell
(Mass.) All-Americans of the NECBL at 7 p.m.
Chinese National Team 9, Keene Swamp Bats 7
1-2-3 4-5-6 7-8-9 R-H-E
CHN 2-1-4 1-0-1 0-0-0 9-16-3
KNE 1-0-0 1-1-0 4-0-0 7-9-3
CHN: Li Chenhao, Chen Junyi (5), Zhu Dawei (7), Li Weiliang (7),
Guo Youhua (8), Chen Kun (9) and Wang Wei, Yang Yang (5).
KNE: Tom Cote, Sean Tierney (3), Adam Kolarek (7), Sean
McDermott (8), Matt Jebb (9) and Franco Valdes.
WP: Chenhao
LP: Cote
SV: Kun
HR: CHN – Lingfeng (solo in the 1st)
TOG: 3:05 ATT: 901
