United States beats first place Taiwan 6-0 in World Cup baseball

Sunday, November 11th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) _ Mark Budzinski had two singles, a double and an RBI as the United States beat Taiwan 6-0 on Sunday in the World Cup, handing the home team its first loss and reviving U.S. medal hopes.

Scott Cassidy got the win, pitching six innings, striking out four batters and allowing only two hits for the Americans (3-2). Last season, Cassidy pitched for Triple-A Syracuse in the Toronto Blue Jays' organization.

The Americans scored all their runs in the sixth as they batted around. Orlando Hudson opened with a double and scored after he was hit by a wild throw while running to third.

Budzinski, Matt Erickson and Marty Malloy all had RBI singles. Budzinski, who last season played for Triple-A Buffalo in the Cleveland Indians' organization, also had a line-drive double to left field in the first inning, and in the fifth lined a single to right.

The United States is tied for second with Nicaragua in Group A, while Taiwan, South Korea and the Dominican Republic share first place in the division. The top four teams in the two eight-team groups will advance to the medal round, which begins Friday.

In other Group A action, South Korea (4-1) beat the Dominican Republic (4-1) 4-0. Nicaragua (3-2) beat South Africa (0-5) 13-0, while Italy (2-3) defeated France (0-5) 5-1.

In Group B play, first place Japan (5-0) trounced Australia (2-3) 8-0, and second place Cuba (4-1) beat Panama (3-2) 8-0. The Netherlands (4-1) defeated Canada (1-4) 6-4, and Russia (1-4) beat the Philippines (0-5) 7-6.