Jack Hughes hypes up USA baseball prior to matchup with Canada

As the Team USA baseball team continues its run in the World Baseball Classic, the players know they have an Olympic gold medalist on their side.

Prior to the international baseball tournament, Jack Hughes sent the players a video message to get them ready to represent the United States.

“Jack Hughes sent the boys a nice little fire up message that I put out on their group chat,” said Team USA manager Mark DeRosa ahead of the team’s quarterfinal matchup against Team Canada on Friday. “Firmly aware of the gold medal run there.”

Team USA went on to beat Team Canada, 5-3, in that quarterfinal game, setting them up with a semifinal matchup against the Dominican Republic on Sunday.

At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Hughes scored the overtime game-winner for Team USA to earn the gold medal over Team Canada. It marked Team USA’s first gold medal since the “Miracle on Ice” team in 1980.

The baseball team is working towards emulating that success on the diamond, now two wins away from their own tournament championship.

Outfielder and team captain Aaron Judge previously shared that the team was “fired up” after the Olympic gold medal run.

“It was great. It’s just going to snowball into this. … The boys were pumped up,” Judge said. “The WBC, get a chance to throw on the red, white and blue and copy what they did. That was a special run. That was fun to watch. On both sides, men and women, it was a blast.”