Nicaragua isn't exactly a world baseball power.
Yet, Kevin Nicholson remembered when Nicaragua scored five times in the fifth inning on the way to a 12-6 win over Canada in the semi-final of the Olympic qualifier Aug. 12, 1995 at John Ducey Park in Edmonton.
The win by Nicaragua, which has produced eight major leaguers -- Dennis Martinez, Marvin Benard and David Green --gave Nicaragua and Cuba berths in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Ten years ago Nicholson had two hits and knocked in two runs and when the regional Olympic qualifier began for the 2008 Olympics Nicholson led off the game with a home run over the left-field fence.
That drive, some sloppy fielding and a combined two-hit shutout by Lefty Adam Loewen (Surrey, BC), relievers T.J. Burton (Ottawa, Ont.) and Chris Mears (Victoria,, BC) were enough to give Canada a 3-0 win over Nicaragua in the opener at Ho Ho Kam Park in Mesa, Az..
There was some justice for Nicholson, who narrowly missed a game-tying three-run homer by less than a foot in the 2004 Athens Olympics semi-final game against Cuba, which survived with an 8-5 win.
The switch-hitting Nicholson, who played for the independent league Atlantic League champion Somerset Patriots was the final hitter in 2004 Olympics and the lead-off man as Canada embarked upon qualifying for the 2008 Olympics in Bejing.
Nicholson came off the bat to pinch hit in Athens as Danny Klassen (Leamington, Ont.) was the starting shortstop. However, this time around Klassen has an injury and Nicholson jumped back into the breech.
And if international baseball owed him a homer, his fly ball off of Nicaragua lefty Oswoldo Mairena cleared the wall in almost the same spot.
Canada (1-0) now faces weak-sister Guatemala (0-1) in the second game of the tournament Wednesday in Mesa, Arizona. Jonathan Lockwood (Toronto, Ont.) will start for Canada against Guatemala, which lost 23-0 to Team USA.
Game time is 3:05 p.m. EST (fans can follow the game in real time at www.milb.com).
Six countries -- Panama, plus Team USA, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Canada -- are entered in the regional qualifier, with four countries moving on to the next round, the Olympic Qualification tournament, next summer in Havana, Cuba.
Loewen took the mound with a 1-0 lead and pitched 6 2/3 innings allowing two hits and fanning eight batters for the win. After hitting the Nicaraguan lead-off batter, Lowen retired 15 of the next 17 batters, including a stretch where he retired 14 straight batters between the third and the seventh innings.
Nicaragua put together back-to-back, one-out base hits but Loewen retired DH Reynoldo Padilla on a 6-4-3 double play, begun by Nicholson and turned by 2B Stubby Clapp (Windsor, Ont.)
Following Loewen to the mound, was Burton, who worked 1 1/3 scoreless and then, Mears, who pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.
Canada scored its second run in the top of the third when the Nicaraguan CF Renaro Morales dropped a routine pop fly from the bat of Clapp. Nicholson, who reached third after catcher Adolfo Matamonos threw the ball away while Nicholson was attempting to steal second, scored on the error.
Nicaragua had four errors on the night and Canada
capitalized. Canada also made good on another pair of Nicaraguan miscues in the ninth. Matamonos made another poor throw as Scott Thorman (Cambridge, Ont.) broke for second, was credited with a steal and wound up on third with the wild throw.
On the next pitch, RP Boanerges Espinoza bounced a ball in the dirt allowing Thorman to score the third and final run of the game.
DH Joey Votto (Toronto, Ont.) was 3-for-3, while Nicholson was 3-for-4, with a triple. Of Team Canada's lineup that played against Nicaragua 10 years and three months ago only Eric Gagne (Masouche, Que.) and Nicholson are still active.
LF Ben Van Idersitine (Regina, Sask.) was 2-for-3. Clapp and Thorman had the other hits for Canada.
BOX SCORE
Canada
| Player | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
| Nicholson SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .750 |
| Clapp 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 |
| Martin C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Radmanovich RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
| Thorman 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| Ware CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Betts 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Votto DH | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Van Iderstine LF | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 |
| Loewen P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Burton P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Mears P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
BATTING
HR: Nicholson (1, 1st inning off Mairena, 0 on, 0 out).
TB: Nicholson 6; Clapp; Thorman, S; Votto 3; Van Iderstine 2.
RBI: Nicholson (1).
Team LOB: 4.
SB: Thorman, S (1, 2nd base off Espinoza/Matamoros).
CS: Clapp (1, 2nd base by Mairena/Matamoros).
DP: 2 (Loewen-Nicholson-Thorman, S, Nicholson-Clapp-Thorman, S).
Nicaragua
| Player | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
| Lopez 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Morales CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Castro SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
| Oviedo 3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 |
| Sotelo RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .333 |
| Loaisiga 1B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 |
| Padilla DH | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Mena PH-DH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Leyton LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
| Matamoros C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
| Mairena P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Espinoza P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
BATTING
GIDP: Morales; Padilla.
Team LOB: 3.
FIELDING
E: Matamoros 2 (2, pickoff, throw), Morales (1, fielding), Loaisiga (1, fielding).
Outfield assists: Morales 2 (Votto at home, Clapp at 2nd base), Sotelo (Votto at 2nd base).
DP: (Sotelo-Loaisiga-Mairena-Castro).
Canada
| Player | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Loewen (W,1-0) | 6.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Burton (H,1) | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Mears (S,1) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Nicaragua
| Player | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Mairena (L,0-1) | 8.0 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1.12 |
| Espinoza | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
WP: Espinoza.
HBP: Lopez (by Loewen), Matamoros (by Mears).
Pitches-strikes: Loewen 90-58, Burton 15-11, Mears 15-8, Mairena 105-73, Espinoza 21-13.
Ground outs-fly outs: Loewen 12-0, Burton 2-0, Mears 2-1, Mairena 3-13, Espinoza 1-0.
Batters faced: Loewen 22, Burton 4, Mears 4, Mairena 30, Espinoza 4.
Inherited runners-scored: Burton 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Shawn Rakos. 1B: David Buck. 2B: Chris Griffith. 3B: Arnaldo Roman.
Weather: 78 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 13 mph, In from CF.
T: 2:11.
Att: 112.
