Team USA Advances to Baseball Semifinals

The United States advanced to the semifinals of the inaugural World University Baseball Championships by defeating the Czech Republic, 14-1, Friday at Messina, Italy, in a game shortened to seven innings by the international 10-run rule.

Team USA (4-1) will play Japan (4-1), a 6-1 winner over Korea in a quarterfinal, in one semifinal today, and Cuba (5-0), which eliminated China, 3-0, will take on Chinese Taipei (3-2), which defeated the host country, Italy, 14-3. Winners advance to the gold-medal game on Sunday.

Notre Dame’s Grant Johnson pitched 5 1/3 innings, limiting the Czechs to only one run on three hits. He was relieved by Cal State Fullerton’s Wes Littleton, who worked the final 1 2/3 innings, giving up one hit, walking two and striking out two.

Richie Weeks, a second baseman from Southern University, led the team with four hits in four at-bats, including a solo home run and a triple, four runs scored and three runs batted in. Left fielder Shane Costa, from Fullerton, had one hit and scored a run in five at-bats.