BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 7 : It’s Fast, Furious for U.S. Winners : Baseball: Americans steal 10 bases in 8-2 victory over Puerto Rico and gain medal round.

It has been the most consistent phase of the United States’ game plan at the Olympics. The American baseball players love to steal bases. And hit and run. They want to take the extra base and keep the pressure on the defense.

Friday night, the U.S. team was virtually unstoppable against Puerto Rico. The Americans had four hits, stole three bases and scored three runs in the first inning. They had one hit, two stolen bases and three runs in the third.

Altogether, they stole 10 bases in an 8-2 victory that advanced Team USA to the four-team medal round, which also includes Cuba (5-0), Taiwan (4-1) and Japan (4-1).

The United States (4-1) has two games remaining in the preliminary round, one tonight with the Dominican Republic, and Sunday night against Japan.

Barring an upset of the Cubans, two victories would give the Americans the No. 2 seeding behind gold-medal favorite Cuba. The Cubans defeated Spain on Friday, 18-0; Taiwan defeated the Dominican Republic, 11-0, and Japan beat Italy, 13-3.

“I think the pressure is off now,” U.S. Coach Ron Fraser said. “We’ve got a good chance to be No. 2 or No. 3. We don’t want to be No. 4. But because the pressure is off, we still should remain focused.”

Second baseman Chris Wimmer was more direct.

“We want one more shot at the Cubans,” he said, alluding to the 9-6 defeat to Cuba Wednesday night. “If we played them 10 times, they might beat us seven. But that gold-medal game is just one game. And they can be beat. We’ve beaten them before.”

Team USA will need the same kind of success it had on the bases Friday if the team hopes to beat Cuba. The United States almost doubled its previous total of stolen bases.

Wimmer had two. So did left fielder Calvin Murray and designated hitter Michael Tucker.

“Look at this team,” Wimmer said. “Look at the front part of our lineup. Murray, myself, Jeffrey (Hammonds) and Tuck, all of us can run.

“That’s what our club is geared to. We want to keep the defense on its toes. We wanted to come out early and get up on these guys. We thought if we did, they would roll over.”

But Fraser and the United States had an advantage. Puerto Rico’s starter, Silvio Censale, pitched for Fraser at the University of Miami last season.

Fraser gave the Americans the green light.

Censale got the red one after only two-thirds of an inning.

“It was kind of strange seeing one of us pitching against us,” Fraser said. “But I thought we could take advantage of him. I know him very well. That’s why we got good jumps.”

It started in the first. Murray led off with a single and stole second two pitches later. A bad throw on the play moved him to third, then Wimmer drove him in with a sacrifice fly to right field.

Hammonds then singled, stole second and scored when Tucker singled up the middle.

Then Tucker stole second and moved to third on a balk. Phil Nevin hit a sacrifice fly to center, giving the United States a 3-0 lead.

Everything went well for Team USA until reliever Rick Greene twisted a knee in the seventh. His condition will be evaluated daily.

“Overall, we’re pleased, but not satisfied,” Wimmer said. “One more shot at the Cubans.”