Canada Upsets U.S. - Wins Pan-Am Baseball Gold

The U.S. seemed poised to win their first gold medal in baseball at the Pan-Am games since 1967 after upsetting Cuba 12-10 in the semifinals. Instead they were forced to settle for their 3rd consecutive silver medal dropping a heartbreaker to Canada 2-1. Astros prospect James van Ostrand delivered a two-run double off of his former minor league teammate Andy Van Hekken in the top of the 6th to erase an early 1-0 U.S. lead. The Americans would threaten in the seventh putting a pair of runners on, but Scott Richmond came on to throw 2 1/3 innings of hitless relief to close the game out for Canada. Richmond, who appeared in a game for the Blue Jays this year, fanned 3 of the 7 hitters he faced to get the save in relief of Twins prospect Andrew Albers who earned the win. Brett Carroll, a AAA outfielder in the Red Sox organization, led the United States with 10 hits in the tournament and drove in the Americans' only run in the championship game with a double.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

The win for Canada snapped a string of 10 straight Pan American golds for Cuba. The Cubans instead settled for the bronze medal as they defeated host nation Mexico 6-0 in the consolation game.