pretty sure no one expected this, including myself....werrrrrrrrrrd

PHOENIX -- Less than 24 hours after nearly falling to an unheralded South Africa team, Canada made some serious waves in the World Baseball Classic's Pool B by beating Team USA, 8-6, on Wednesday afternoon at Chase Field.

Canada (2-0) will clinch a berth into the second round if Mexico loses to South Africa on Wednesday night, or with a win against Mexico on Thursday. Team USA (1-1) beat Mexico on Tuesday and need a win on Friday against South Africa if it hopes to advance to next week's second round.

Canada jumped out to an early lead, as it scored in each of the first five innings to build an 8-0 advantage. Four of the runs were a direct result of No. 9 hitter Adam Stern, who tripled in a run, singled in two, and drove in another with an inside-the-park homer in the fifth.

While his offense was handling USA starter Dontrelle Willis and reliever Al Leiter, Canada starter Adam Loewen threw up zeros, holding the United States scoreless through his 3 2/3 innings of work.

USA made things interesting in the bottom of the fifth, putting together a six-run rally that was capped when Jason Varitek cracked a two-out grand slam to center. The blast, which came off Chris Begg, brought Team USA to within 8-6.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/...t=.jsp&c_id=mlb

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