Castro and Van Ostrand return with gold, bronze

CORPUS CHRISTI – Two members of the 2009 Corpus Christi Hooks are back home in North America with some shiny metal to show for their efforts overseas in the IBAF World Cup.

Catcher Jason Castro and Team USA captured gold, while first baseman Jimmy Van Ostrand and Team Canada grabbed bronze.

Sunday at Stadio Borghese in Nettuno, Italy, Team USA defeated Cuba 10-5 in the World Cup gold medal game.  Catcher Lucas May homered and drove in four runs to lead the Americans to their 14th straight win in the tournament.  The United States has now won baseball’s World Cup four times (1973, 1974, 2007 and 2009).

Castro started seven games behind the plate in the tournament and went 3-for-23 with two RBI’s.

Saturday, Canada defeated Puerto Rico 6-2 in the bronze medal game.  Van Ostrand clubbed his second home run in World Cup play and knocked in three to lead the Canadians on offense.  Van Ostrand batted .318 (14x44) in Cup action with three doubles, two homers, five walks and nine RBI’s in 12 games.

“This is something we’ve been doing all tournament,” Van Ostrand told The Canadian Press.  “We’ve been playing well and getting leads late, and we’ve done a really good job at finishing games.  It just goes to show that we just keep on battling and we play the whole game.”

The bronze was Canada’s first medal in World Cup history and the best international showing for the Canadians since winning bronze at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.