Team USA 18U

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...has a 95-1 run differential through six games. Team USA has struck out 44.4 percent of all hitters with a 5.5/1 strikeout/walk ratio.

The U.S. is a currently on a historic run-prevention pace, allowing only one run in six games for an 0.26 ERA. The median runs allowed per game (not even ERA) since Team USA began keeping statistics in 1987 is 2.71. There has only been one team that allowed less than one run per game, as the 2002 squad that had three first-round arms—Jeff Allison, Chad Billingsley and Ian Kennedy—allowed 0.88 runs per game. No other team is under 1.50 R/G.

The team’s run-scoring also compares favorably with previous Team USA squads, averaging 15.8 runs a game and 2.7 runs per inning. The 2002 team is the highest-scoring offense in U.S. history, averaging 13.0 runs a game, compared to the median of 8.5 runs per game since 1987. That 2002 squad featured the No. 1 overall pick the next year, Delmon Young, and a host of other big leaguer position players, including Allen Craig, Lastings Milledge, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ian Stewart.

Team USA’s strong start sets up a critical matchup on Friday evening against Cuba, which is in second place with one loss.

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After defeating Cuba and Mexico on Friday and Saturday to complete the round-robin portion of the 2014 COPABE 18U Pan American Championship with an 8-0 record (and 110-5 run differential), USA Baseball’s 18-and-under national team clinched a spot in the gold medal game, to be played Sunday night in La Paz, Mexico.

A win would complete Team USA’s first three-peat in 18U history.

The gold medal game is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. EST and will be a rematch of Friday’s matchup against Cuba, which enters the championship game with a 6-2 record.

Team USA clinched a spot in the title game with its 5-4 victory over Cuba on Friday, which was the most hotly contested game of the tournament. Entering the contest, the U.S. was 6-0 with a 95-1 run differential.

Team USA completed round-robin play in a 10-0 victory Saturday over Mexico.

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With Hurricane Odile about to hit Mexico on Sunday night, USA Baseball’s 18-and-under National Team was declared the winner of the COPABE 18U Pan American Championships.

It marks the fourth straight summer Team USA’s 18U program has emerged victorious in international play after winning the 2011 COPABE Pan American Championship in Columbia and consecutive World Cups in 2012 and 2013, both held in Asia.

Cuba and the U.S. squared off in the championship game Sunday night in La Paz, with the game scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. local start (9:30 p.m. EST), following the completion of the bronze game.

The U.S. took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when speedy leadoff hitter Nick Madrigal of Elk Grove (Calif.) High reached on an error by Cuba’s second baseman and advanced to second before scoring on a single to center field by right fielder Trenton Clark (Richland High, North Richland Hills, Texas).

Allard, who struck out 10 of the 18 hitters he faced (56 percent) in five innings in his first start against Canada, was off to a strong start against the Cubans, striking out seven of the 11 hitters he faced (64 percent) in his first three scoreless innings while allowing two hits and one walk.

Then, in the bottom of the third inning, the Cubans refused to take the field for Team USA’s turn at the plate. As soon as the Cubans took the field, the umpires pulled them off because of a concern about lightning strikes from the looming hurricane. The game was then called off.

There was initially talk of naming Cuba and the U.S. co-champions, but event officials eventually declared Team USA the champs, although the Cuban media erroneously reported on Monday that the event ended with co-champions.