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Baseball at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Venue	Helliniko Olympic Complex
Dates	August 15–25
Teams	8
Medalists
Cuba    Australia    Japan
«2000	2008»

Baseball at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on two separate diamonds within the Helliniko Olympic Complex, from August 15 to August 25. This was a male-only event.

The competition consisted of a preliminary round with each team playing all the other teams once, for a total of seven games. The top four teams at the end of this round advanced to the medals round. The medals round consisted of two semifinal games with the winners advancing to the gold medal game. The losing teams of the semifinals would play in the bronze medal game.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Cuba (CUB) Danny Betancourt Luis Borroto Frederich Cepeda Yorelvis Charles Michel Enríquez Norberto González Yulieski Gourriel Pedro Luis Lazo Roger Machado Jonder Martínez Danny Miranda Frank Montieth Vicyohandri Odelin Adiel Palma Eduardo Paret Ariel Pestano Alexei Ramírez Eriel Sánchez Antonio Scull Carlos Tabares Yoandri Urgelles Osmani Urrutia Manuel Vega Norge Luis Vera Manager: Higinio Vélez Coaches: Carlos Cepero Pedro Pérez José Elosegui Francisco Escaurrido	Australia (AUS) Craig Anderson Thomas Brice Adrian Burnside Gavin Fingleson Paul Gonzalez Nick Kimpton Brendan Kingman Craig Lewis Graeme Lloyd David Nilsson Trent Oeltjen Wayne Ough Chris Oxspring Brett Roneberg Ryan Rowland-Smith John Stephens Phil Stockman Brett Tamburrino Dick Thompson Andrew Utting Ben Wigmore Glenn Williams Jeff Williams Rodney van Buizen Manager: Jon Deeble Coaches: Tony Harris Paul Elliott Philip Dale	Japan (JPN) Ryoji Aikawa Yuya Ando Atsushi Fujimoto Kosuke Fukudome Hirotoshi Ishii Hisashi Iwakuma Hitoki Iwase Kenji Jojima Makoto Kaneko Takuya Kimura Masahide Kobayashi Hiroki Kuroda Daisuke Matsuzaka Daisuke Miura Shinya Miyamoto Arihito Muramatsu Norihiro Nakamura Michihiro Ogasawara Naoyuki Shimizu Yoshinobu Takahashi Yoshitomo Tani Koji Uehara Kazuhiro Wada Tsuyoshi Wada Manager: Kiyoshi Nakahata Coaches: Yutaka Ono Yutaka Takagi

Team squads

Controversy

Despite being the "home of baseball" and the defending gold medalists, the United States did not make it to Athens after losing a qualifying game to Mexico, 1-0. The Americas Tournament, which decided which two teams from North America, South America and the Caribbean went to Athens, was single-elimination, when almost all other baseball tournaments are double-elimination. (The Mexicans didn't make it to the Olympics either; in the very next round, they were upset by Canada.) Ironically, many Americans wound up playing in Athens anyway, as members of the nascent Greek team.

Others took issue with the fact that three of the eight slots in the Olympics (including the hosts) were European, while the Americas and Asia (with much stronger baseball nations) got only two slots apiece. The absence of such teams as the USA, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and South Korea led to disinterest in the Olympic tournament in those countries.

The 2008 tournament has changed the qualifying procedure; the United States qualified, as did Cuba and the host country China.

Bracket

	Semifinals				Gold Medal Match
	Australia	1
	Japan	0
					Cuba	6
					Australia	2
					Bronze Medal Match
	Canada	5		Japan	11
	Cuba	8			Canada	2

Results

Preliminary round

The top four teams (Japan, Cuba, Canada and Australia) advanced to the semifinals. To determine the seed ranking of teams tied in the standings, the result of the two teams' game against each other was used. Japan therefore received first place due to the win over Cuba. In the semi-finals, Japan (#1) played Australia (#4) and Cuba (#2) played Canada (#3). The higher ranked team in each game was the home team.

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

August 15

August 15 – 10:30–13:03 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 3 Cuba 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 x 4 10 1 WP: Adiel Palma (1-0)  LP: Craig Anderson (0-1)  SV: Jonder Martinez (1S)   HRs:  CUB – M. Enriquez in 1st, 1 RBI; O.Urrutia in 6th, 1 RBI August 15 – 18:30–21:04 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 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)

August 15 – 11:30–13:45 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Japan 2 0 3 1 1 4 1 12 13 0 Italy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 WP: Koji Uehara (1-0)  LP: Anthony Massimino (0-1)   HRs:  JPN – N. Nakamura in 3rd, 2 RBIs; K. Fukudome in 4th, 1 RBI August 15 – 19:30–22:02 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Netherlands 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 5 11 13 1 Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 WP: Calvin Maduro (1-0)  LP: Clinton Zavaras (0-1)   HRs:  NED – Y. de Caster in 4th, 3 RBIs; R. Balentien in 9th, 2 RBIs

August 16

August 16 – 10:30–12:55 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Chinese Taipei 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 8 2 Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 WP: Wang Chien-Ming (1-0)  LP: John Stephens (0-1)  SV: Tsao Chin-Hui (1S)   August 16 – 18:30–21:58 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Netherlands 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 1 Japan 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 4 x 8 11 1 WP: Hiroki Kuroda (1-0)  LP: Diego Markwell (0-1)   HRs:  JPN – A. Fujimoto in 8th, 2 RBIs

August 16 – 11:30–14:15 at Field 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 1 1 0 0 5 0 x 9 6 0 WP: Jason Dickson (1-0)  LP: David Rollandini (0-1)   HRs:  CAN – P. L. Laforest in 2nd, 3 RBIs August 16 – 19:30–21:51 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Greece 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 4 3 1 Cuba 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 x 5 10 1 WP: Norge Luis Vera (1-0)  LP: Jared Theodorakos (0-1)  SV: Pedro Luis Lazo (1S)   HRs:  CUB – F. Cepeda in 2nd, 1 RBI; M. Enriquez in 6th, 1 RBI; A. Pestano in 7th, 2 RBIs

August 17

August 17 – 10:30–12:47 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Canada 0 1 0 1 2 1 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)   HRs:  CAN – P. Orr in 2nd, 3 RBIs; P. L. Laforest in 3rd, 1 RBI; R. Clapp in 4th, 1 RBI August 17 – 18:30–20:55 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 6 12 0 Italy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 WP: Chris Oxspring (1-0)  LP: Michael Marchesano (0-1)

August 17 – 11:30–14:04 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 1 Chinese Taipei 0 0 1 1 0 0 5 0 x 7 9 0 WP: Pan Wei-lun (1-0)  LP: Peter Soteropoulos (0-1)   HRs:  GRE – C. A. Harris in 7th, 1 RBI  TPE – Chen C. Y. in 3rd, 1 RBI August 17 – 19:30–22:47 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Japan 0 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 6 12 2 Cuba 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 7 2 WP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-0)  LP: Vicyohandri Odelin (0-1)  SV: Hirotoshi Ishii (1S)   HRs:  JPN – K. Jojima in 4th, 1 RBI; N. Nakamura in 4th, 1 RBI; K. Wada in 2nd, 2 RBIs

August 18

August 18 – 10:30–13:25 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Italy 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 4 8 1 Netherlands 2 0 1 0 0 3 2 2 x 10 14 1 WP: Patrick de Lange (1-0)  LP: Kaseygarret Olenberger (0-1)   HRs:  ITA – J. Ramos Gizzi in 4th, 1 RBI  NED – S. Adriana in 3rd, 1 RBI August 18 – 18:30–21:05 at Field 2 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

August 18 – 11:30–14:49 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Australia 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 0 9 15 1 Japan 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 4 9 1 WP: Ryan Rowland Smith (1-0)  LP: Daisuke Miura (0-1)  SV: Jeff Williams (1S)   HRs:  AUS – D. Nilsson in 8th, 1 RBI  JPN – K. Fukudome in 5th, 3 RBIs August 18 – 19:30–22:44 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Cuba 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 5 2 10 15 1 Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 6 1 WP: Luis Borroto (1-0)  LP: Tu Chang-Wei (0-1)  SV: Danny Betancourt (1S)   HRs:  CUB – E. Sanchez in 2nd, 1 RBI

August 20

August 20 – 10:30–13:19 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Italy 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 2 5 7 0 Chinese Taipei 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 4 8 0 WP: Peter Nyari (1-0)  LP: Yang Chien-Fu (0-1)   HRs:  ITA – M. Chiarini in 4th, 1 RBI; J. Buccheri in 6th, 1 RBI; C. Liverziani in 9th, 2 RBIs  TPE – Peng C. M. in 7th, 1 RBI August 20 – 18:30–21:20 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Greece 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 6 14 0 Australia 0 0 3 0 0 2 5 1 x 11 10 0 WP: Ryan Rowland Smith (2-0)  LP: Sean Spencer (0-1)   HRs:  GRE – P. Maestrales in 2nd, 1 RBI; J. Kavourias in 8th, 1 RBI  AUS – B. Roneberg in 3rd; P. Gonzalez in 3rd, 2 RBIs; G. Roneberg in 6th, 1 RBI; 1 RBI; B. Kingman in 7th, 3 RBIs

August 20 – 11:30–14:04 at Field 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)   HRs:  JPN – Y. Takahashi in 1st, 2 RBIs; Y. Tani in 2nd, 1 RBI; K. Wada in 4th, 2 RBIs August 20 – 19:30–22:05 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 5 0 Cuba 0 0 5 0 4 0 0 0 x 9 12 0 WP: Adiel Palma (1-0)  LP: Eelco Jansen (0-1)   HRs:  NED – E. J. 'T Hoen in 8th, 1 RBI; Y. de Casterin 9th, 1 RBI

August 21

August 21 – 10:30–13:33 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Chinese Taipei 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 10 1 Japan 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 4 10 0 WP: Hiroki Kuroda (2-0)  LP: Tsao Chin-Hui (0-1-1)   HRs:  TPE – Chen C. F. in 3rd, 3 RBIs  JPN – Y. Takahashi in 7th, 2 RBIs August 21 – 18:30–20:44 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Australia 9 5 5 1 0 2 0 22 17 2 Netherlands 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 4 1 WP: Craig Lewis (1-0)  LP: Calvin Maduro (0-2)   HRs:  AUS – B. Roneberg in 1st, 2 RBIs; R. van Buizen in 3rd, 4 RBIs; G. Fingleson in 2nd, 3 RBIs; G. Williams in 6th, 2 RBIs  NED – Y. de Caster in 2nd, 1 RBI; R. Millard in 5th, 1 RBI

August 21 – 11:30–14:28 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Cuba 0 3 0 0 1 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 (2S)   HRs:  CUB – A. Scull in 2nd, 2 RBIs August 21 – 19:30–22:38 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Greece 0 0 0 2 2 2 4 0 2 12 14 3 Italy 0 1 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 7 14 1 WP: Panagiotis Sikaras (1-0)  LP: W. E. Lucena (0-1)   HRs:  GRE – C. Bellinger in 6th, 1 RBI; N. Markakis in 7th, 3 RBIs; C. A. Harris in 9th, 1 RBI  ITA – J. Ramos Gizzi in 2nd, 1 RBI

August 22

August 22 – 10:30–13:10 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Chinese Taipei 0 1 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 5 9 1 Netherlands 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 WP: Pan Wei-lun (2-0)  LP: Patrick de Lange (1-1)   HRs:  NED – E. Kingsale in 4th, 1 RBI August 22 – 18:30–20:39 at Field 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Cuba 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 11 0 Italy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 WP: Luis Borroto (2-0)  LP: Michael Marchesano (0-2)

August 22 – 11:30–14:29 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Japan 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 6 13 0 Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 1 WP: Naoyuki Shimizu (1-0)  LP: Meleti Ross Melehes (0-2)   HRs:  JPN – K. Fukudome in 7th, 2 RBIs; Y. Takahashi in 7th, 2 RBIs  GRE – E. D. Pappas in 7th, 1 RBI August 22 – 19:30–22:13 at Field 1 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)   HRs:  CAN – J. Ware in 9th, 3 RBIs; R. Radmanovich in 4th, 2 RBIs

Semifinals

August 24 – 11:30–14:13 at Field 1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Australia 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 2 Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 WP: Chris Oxspring (2-0)  LP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-1)  SV: Jeff Williams (2S)

August 24 – 19:30–23:03 at Field 1 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 (1-0-1)  LP: Chris Begg (0-1)   HRs:  CAN – R. Radmanovich in 9th, 1 RBI

Bronze medal match

August 25 – 11:30–14:20 at Field 1

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)  
HRs:  JPN – K. Jojima in 1st, 2 RBIs  CAN – J. Ware in 5th, 1 RBI

Final

August 25 – 20:00–23:14 at Field 1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cuba	0	0	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	6	13	1
Australia	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	7	0

WP: Adiel Palma (3-0)  LP: John Stephens (0-2)  SV: Danny Betancourt (1-0-2)  
HRs:  CUB – F. Cepeda in 4th, 2 RBIs  AUS – P. Gonzalez in 5th, 1 RBI

Final standing

Place Team  Cuba  Australia  Japan 4.  Canada 5.  Chinese Taipei 6.  Netherlands 7.  Greece 8.  Italy

2004 Olympic Champions  Cuba Third title

References

• Official Olympic Report

Baseball at the Summer Olympics 1912* • 1920–1932 • 1936* • 1948 • 1952* • 1956* • 1960 • 1964* • 1968–1980 • 1984* • 1988* • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 * Demonstration sports at these Games List of medalists