Reports From USA Baseball and Matt Marek
 
A grand slam by J.P. Crawford and a combined no-hitter from Zack Aukes and Chris Rivera gave the 14U National Team a 3-0 record in pool play, as the U.S. topped Puerto Rico, 10-0, Tuesday afternoon at La California Stadium.

Aukes (1-0) went four innings on the mound and struck out eight Puerto Rican batters. His four hitless innings tie him for least amount allowed in a game (minimum three innings pitched), and his eight strikeouts are tied for sixth in 14U Team history.

The U.S. managed just four hits on the afternoon, but took advantage of five errors, five wild pitches, four walks and two hit batsmen by the Puerto Rican squad.

Crawford’s slam highlighted a five-run second and broke a scoreless tie. After Jesse Kuet and Matt Vogel walked to start the inning, Kuet beat a throw to third on a Zack Aukes bunt to load the bases. Crawford lofted a ball over the left field fence two batters later for a 4-0 U.S. lead. Rivera would score the fifth run after coming across on a wild pitch. 

Three runs crossed the plate for the U.S. in the third, as Nate Mondou reached on an error to start the inning and stole second. After a Kuet single, another wild pitch plated Mondou and moved Kuet to second. Kuet then stole third on a Matt Vogel walk, and after a pitching change, Vogel stole second to set up an Aukes RBI groundout to make it 7-0. James Ziegler plated Vogel with a single up the middle for an 8-0 advantage. 

Three errors led to a pair of unearned runs for the U.S in the fourth. Cameron Miller singled to start the inning, advanced to second on an error by the shortstop, stole third and then came across on an errant pickoff attempt to first by the pitcher. Vogel accounted for the last run as his groundball to short was misplayed, scoring Grayson Ivey for the 10th U.S. run.

The U.S. will be off tomorrow and will play a re-seed game against Ecuador on Thursday. Game time is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. at La California Stadium.