1977 Intercontinental Cup

The 1977 Intercontinental Cup was the third Intercontinental Cup. Held from November 10 through November 20, 1977 in Managua, Nicaragua, it employed a very odd structure. In round one, all nine teams played a round-robin; the top five teams advanced to round two while teams 6-8 played a playoff to determine the sixth round two team. Then, the remaining six teams squared off in another round-robin. When two teams tied for the best record, a championship game was held between them.

Canada was 3-5 to tie for 6th in round one. In the playoff, they lost to Taiwan.

Colombia went 4-4 in the first round. In the second round, they were 1-4 to finish 5th. Eusebio Moreno tied for the tournament lead with six doubles.

Japan, under manager Reiichi Matsunaka, was 4-4 in the first round then 3-2 in the second to take a Bronze Medal. Shigekazu Mori went 4-0 to lead the Cup in wins while Mitsugu Kobayashi led with 11 steals.

Nicaragua was 4-4 in the first round and 3-2 in the second to finish 4th. They were led by Ernesto López (a tourney-high 12 runs and 5 homers), Pablo Juarez (tied for the most doubles, 6) and Julio Cuarezma (a tourney-high 5 home runs and 12 RBI).

Puerto Rico went 3-5 in the first round to tie for 6th, then beat Taiwan in the playoff to advance. They were 0-5 in the second round to finish 6th overall.

South Korea posted a 5-3 first-round record, second to the US, and was 4-1 in the second round to tie the USA. In the finale, they beat the US in a 5-4 squeaker. Sun-hee Lee led in innings (48 2/3) while Jae-bak Kim led in average (.426) and hits (23). They were managed by Eung-yong Kim.

Chinese Taipei was 3-5 in the first round and then 1-1 in the playoff to place 7th overall.

United States was unbeaten in round one at 8-0 and was 4-1 in round two, losing only to Nicaragua. In the finale, though, they fell 5-4 to South Korea to take the Silver Medal. Jack Lazorko posted a 0.00 ERA to lead the event. L. Percey tied for the most RBI, 12.