Japan routs Canada to take bronze medal

ATHENS (Reuters) -- Japan claimed bronze in baseball on Wednesday with an 11-2 drubbing of Canada, but it was a bittersweet victory for Japan, which had high hopes of a gold with their "Dream Team" of pro baseball stars.

Australia will battle Cuba for the gold later in the day, while Canada were shut out at their first chance of an Olympic baseball medal.

Japan jumped out to a two-run lead in the first inning on a homer from power-hitting catcher Kenji Jojima. They put the game out of reach with four more runs in the third, sparked by a bases-loaded single from Takuya Kimura that scored two.

The baseball medal will be the third for the Japanese team, which claimed silver in Atlanta in 1996 and bronze in Barcelona in 1992.

Japan suffered the embarrassment of losing out on a medal in Sydney when they were defeated by arch rival South Korea. For Athens, Japan assembled the best of their pro league to restore Olympic pride to one of the world's baseball powerhouses.

Japan were upset, however, by Australia in their semifinal on Tuesday. Leaving the field, several Japanese players said the loss was devastating.

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