Cuba to battle South Korea for baseball gold

Alfredo Despaigne and his Cuban teammates hope their powerful bats will be enough to upend the surprising South Koreans in Saturday's Olympic baseball final (6 a.m. ET).

Cuba guaranteed itself no worse than a silver medal for the fifth straight Summer Games with a 10-2 drubbing of the United States in semifinal play at Beijing's Wukesong Baseball Field on Friday.

Right-fielder Alexei Bell and catcher Ariel Pestano clubbed three-run home runs to highlight a six-run eighth inning and add to solo shots by Frederich Cepeda and Despaigne.

After relief pitcher Pedro Luis Lazo struck out Lou Marson to end the game, the Cubans celebrated mildly on the mound.

The defending Olympic champions were thought to be more vulnerable at this year's tournament due to player defections but will enter the championship with a 7-1 record, having outscored the opposition 62-25.

Korea has been even stronger, improving to 8-0 after Friday's 6-2 semifinal win over Japan, and will make its first-ever Games gold-medal appearance.

Cuba, meanwhile, will be seeking its fourth Olympic championship (1992, 1996, 2004) and some revenge following a 7-4 loss to the Koreans in the preliminary round.

Cubans get early lead

Starting and winning pitcher Norge Luis Vera (2-0) was staked to a 2-0 lead in the third inning Friday when Hector Olivera tripled home Giorbis Duvergel and later scored on Michel Enriquez's sacrifice fly.

After the teams exchanged runs in the fourth, the U.S. cut Cuba's lead to 3-2 in the fifth. With Marson batting, Bell dropped his fly ball in right, allowing the catcher to coast into second base. He then scored on Jason Donald's base hit.

The Cubans regained their two-run advantage in the sixth before putting the game away two innings later.

Vera went six innings, yielding a pair of runs (one earned), while Lazo picked up his second save of the tourney with three scoreless innings of two-hit ball.

American starter Stephen Strasburg suffered his first loss in Beijing, allowing three runs (two earned) and striking out five over four innings.

The U.S. (5-3) will face Japan (4-4) for bronze on Saturday (Friday, 10:30 p.m. ET).

South Korea 6, Japan 2

Lee Seung-yuop belted a two-run home run in a four-run eighth inning to lead the South Koreans over their Asian rivals.

He may not receive the warmest welcome upon his return to the Yomiuri Giants after helping end the gold-medal hopes of the Japanese, who won the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic.

Yoon Suk-min pitched a perfect ninth, met catcher Kang Min-ho between the mound and home plate and jumped into a celebratory embrace. Their teammates weren't far behind.

For 14 of the South Korean players, heading home with a baseball medal from the Olympics means they don't have to report for two years of military duty.

"Good news!" manager Kim Kyung-moon said.

Pitcher Song Seung-jin said he was overjoyed.

"I don't have to go to the military and neither do 13 others," Song said while signing autographs outside the team bus. "I'm very happy for our team."

Kim Dong-joo followed Lee's homer with a single, then scored a key insurance run when left-fielder Akihiro Sato dropped a routine fly ball for a devastating two-base error.