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Jack McKeon had a message for his players when he filled in as manager for the USA Baseball national collegiate team for a weekend game in Durham.

"I told the players I hadn't lost in four years and they hadn't better let me down," McKeon said.

McKeon, an Elon resident and retired major-league manager, took on the role for one night in place of Tulane's Rick Jones, a former head coach of Elon who's in charge of the U.S. team this summer but had another commitment.

For McKeon, 78, it was supposed to be a stress-free endeavor after the U.S. team drubbed Canada in previous games. With McKeon at the helm, the Canadian team took a 5-0 first-inning lead.

"I was sweating it," McKeon said.

The U.S. team won 14-5 and McKeon called his first USA Baseball assignment a success. Afterward, McKeon said he deserved to relax after the U.S. team ran its winning streak to 27 games.

"I'm going to savor that victory," McKeon said.

Players had photographs taken with McKeon, who didn't have key decision-making duties. U.S. pitching coach Mike Kennedy, Elon's head coach, and other staff members essentially oversaw the game.

"It has always been one of my goals to be fortunate enough to coach one of the USA Baseball teams," McKeon said. "After being around Tommy Lasorda so much and to hear him talk about how great it was to coach the U.S. Olympic team, it gave me a thrill that really made me want to be a part of that success."

McKeon encouraged the players to reach baseball's highest level.

"I told them that I know all of these guys have dreams to one day become a major league ballplayer," he said. "I told them that they have to have pride in their abilities to be successful, and that the road to success is always under construction."

McKeon continues to be a consultant for the Florida Marlins, the team he guided to the World Series championship in 2003. He spent time recently in Zebulon, when the Marlins' affiliate from Jacksonville, Fla., played there against the Carolina Mudcats. And he takes in plenty of Greensboro Grasshoppers games at NewBridge Bank Park, the home of the Marlins' South Atlantic League affiliate.

"It's off and on," McKeon said. "I kind of go when I want to go."

The last time McKeon was in uniform in Durham, he was a member of the Coastal Plain League's HiToms.

The U.S. team duty wasn't the only time McKeon has been in a baseball uniform this year. He regularly strolls the field during Marlins spring training.

And later this month, he'll return to Wilson to serve as an honorary manager during a CPL game. It will be a bobblehead night in honor of McKeon, who managed a minor-league team there in 1960-61.