51s’ Koplove, Tiffee thrilled to earn spots on Olympic team

When the U.S. Olympic baseball team was announced last week, on an Internet broadcast he couldn’t watch, the 51s relief pitcher got a call from his sister-in-law telling him he was named to the team.

Then his father phoned him, yelling, "You made it. Oh my God, you made it."

Still, Koplove wasn’t sure.

"I still had a little bit of doubt that it wasn’t for real," he said. "Then I went home and saw the list on the Internet. At that point, it set in. I was like ‘Holy Cow, I’m going to the Olympics.’ This is for real."

Koplove, 31, got a call "out of the blue" in early June informing him he was one of 60 players being considered for the squad, but he "wasn’t expecting at all" to be selected.

When it was official, he said it was still hard to believe.

"When they announced the team, I was pretty blown away. It’s just an incredible honor to get to do this. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I’m just really looking forward to it," said the 5-foot-11-inch, 175-pound Koplove, 1-1 with a 3.26 ERA and nine saves this year for Las Vegas. "It’s the pinnacle of worldwide sports. To get a chance to compete in it and meet all those other athletes … it’s going to be a special experience for me."

Las Vegas infielder-outfielder Terry Tiffee — who leads the Pacific Coast League with a .378 batting average — also was named to the 24-man team, which includes 14 players from Triple-A teams.

"To get a chance to experience that is going to be unbelievable," Tiffee, 29, said Tuesday before going 0-for-5 in the 51s’ 17-5 loss to Omaha at Cashman Field. "It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal you can’t pass up."

Tiffee also leads the PCL in hits (132) and doubles (36).

Koplove and Tiffee are slated to leave Las Vegas on Monday. They’ll work out with Team USA in California for a few days, then travel to Cary, N.C., where they’ll play four games against Team Canada, from Aug. 1 to 4.

From there, they’ll fly to China for the Beijing Games, Aug. 8 to 24. The baseball competition is from Aug. 13 to 23.

"It’s going to be tough. All these teams are good," said Koplove, who has pitched in the majors in each of the last seven seasons, with Arizona and Cleveland, compiling a 15-7 mark with a 3.82 ERA. "The Asian teams — Korea and Japan — they’re professional players, and Cuba has so much international experience. I think they’re the favorites, along with us, but I don’t know enough to make an educated guess."

The U.S., managed by Davey Johnson, last competed in baseball in the Olympics in Sydney, Australia, in 2000, when Tommy Lasorda guided a Roy Oswalt- and Ben Sheets-led squad to the gold medal over Cuba.

Since baseball was recognized as an official medal sport in 1992, the U.S. also has finished fourth in Barcelona (1992) and won the bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta Games.

"We’re definitely striving to win," said Tiffee, who played in 91 games with the Minnesota Twins from 2004 to 2006. "We’re not going over there just to screw around. We’re not going to be happy just to be there. We want to win it, or at least medal.

"It would be awesome to go home and say you’re an Olympic medalist."

• NOTES — Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Juan Pierre is scheduled to join the 51s today for a rehabilitation assignment. Pierre was placed on the 15-day disabled list on June 30 with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. … Los Angeles optioned left-hander Eric Stults to Las Vegas. Stults went 2-2 with a 3.18 ERA in six starts for the Dodgers after getting recalled from the 51s on June 17. Stults or right-hander Heath Totten will start Saturday at Cashman Field against the Iowa Cubs, who are expected to send former Notre Dame football star Jeff Samardzija (4-1, 3.13 ERA) to the mound.