YOKOHAMA, Japan (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV alum Blake Gailen (2006-07) helped Team Israel (1-2) advance to the knockout stage of the baseball tournament at the Tokyo Summer Olympics with a 12-5 victory over Mexico (0-3) in an elimination game Sunday afternoon – Saturday evening PT – at Yokohama Baseball Stadium.

Former Rebel to Represent Israel at Toyko Olympics
 
Gailen, who went 2-for-5 with two runs and one RBI, helped the Blue & White distance itself from Mexico moments after the latter had scored five unanswered runs to pull within one, 6-5, after six innings of play.
 
With two on and one out in the seventh, Gailen started a six-run outburst with an RBI single to right field that increased Team Israel's lead to two runs, 7-5. Three batters later, Gailen and teammate Danny Valencia came around to score off a two-run single from Mitch Glasser, which pushed the advantage to four runs, 9-5. Zack Penprase and Scotty Burcham added three insurance tallies later in the at-bat with a two-run single and RBI double, respectively.
 
With the win, Israel will face South Korea (2-1) Sunday evening at 8:00 pm PT - WATCH LIVE - (Monday afternoon at 12:00 pm Tokyo) in game one of the double-elimination, knockout stage. The winner advances to face the victor of USA-Japan (Monday morning at 3:00 am PT) on Wednesday morning (3:00 am PT); however, the loser will return to the diamond Tuesday morning (3:00 am PT) against the Dominican Republic.
 
OLYMPIC BASEBALL FORMAT:
- Six national teams – Israel, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the United States and the Dominican Republic – qualified for the Olympics. The tournament began round-robin play (July 27-31) and a double-elimination tournament (July 31-August 6).
 
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:
- Knockout Stage (Double Elimination): July 31-August 5
- Bronze Medal Game: August 6
- Gold Medal Game: August 7