THE 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES : U.S. SCORES 14-7 VICTORY OVER VENEZUELA

Having improved its record to 2-0 with a 14-7 victory Tuesday night at Bush Stadium over Venezuela, the U.S. baseball team plays Wednesday against Nicaragua, one of the medal favorites.

The starting pitcher for the United States will be Michigan sophomore Jim Abbott, who has overcome challenges before.

Even though he was born without fingers on his right hand, he has become one of the best pitchers in college baseball.

In an earlier game Tuesday, Nicaragua, the 1983 Pan American silver medalist, lost to Canada, 10-5, leaving the United States and Cuba as the only unbeaten teams in the eight-team, round-robin tournament.

U.S. Coach Ron Fraser of the University of Miami called Sunday’s opening 10-6 victory over Canada ugly, but this was even uglier.

He had no better pitching Tuesday night, but again the hitters provided enough offense for the team to win before a crowd of 3,574.

With one man out and two on in the fourth inning, three of the next four U.S. hitters had home runs, including one that accounted for three runs by second baseman Ty Griffin from Georgia Tech.

After the third home run, a 390-foot shot over the center-field fence by left fielder Ted Wood from the University of New Orleans, the new pitcher, Jesus Lopez, threw his first pitch at designated hitter Mike Fiore of the University of Miami.

No harm, no foul as Fiore ducked out of the way, but both benches cleared. The umpires restored order before punches were thrown.

Through five innings, the United States had a 9-0 lead. Venezuela, which lost its opening game Monday to Canada, appeared in danger of losing this one on the 10-run rule, which can be invoked after seven innings.

But the U.S. pitchers ran into difficulty after starter Joe Slusarski from the University of New Orleans was replaced. He allowed five hits and no runs in five innings.

Chris Nichting from Northwestern allowed five runs in the next 1 2-3 innings. Venezuela scored another run off reliever Jim Poole of Georgia Tech to move within three runs, 9-6, entering the bottom of the seventh.

That’s when the U.S. hitters began to get to Lopez. After he was replaced by Venezuela’s fourth pitcher, Luis Tirado, U.S. first baseman Tino Martinez of Tampa University hit a bases-loaded double to drive in three runs and give the United States a 12-6 lead.

Martinez, who was 4 for 5 against Canada, had two more hits Tuesday night and now has eight runs batted in after nine at bats. He almost had his second home run in two innings in the fifth when his bases-loaded drive took center fielder Pedro Fria to the warning track.

Before the seventh inning ended, the United States had two more runs for a 14-6 lead.