Cary, North Carolina- Erik Kratz’ three-run homer in the bottom of the second inning turned out to be the difference as Canada dropped their first pre-tournament game 3-1 against Team USA. The game lasted only 6 innings as Team USA faced Puerto Rico in another 6 inning game immediately afterwards.
Kratz belted a 3-2 pitch over the left-field wall off Canadian starter Scott Diamond (Guelph, ON) with one out in the inning. Diamond’s outing lasted 2 2/3 innings which saw him give up three hits, three walks while striking out two batters.
“Scotty maybe got tired a little bit and elevated the ball (on the homerun),” said Manager Ernie Whitt.
Canada’s best chance to score came in the sixth inning when they loaded the bases with none out. Taylor Green (Comox, BC) led the inning off with a walk which was followed by back-to-back singles from Adam Loewen (Surrey, BC) and Shawn Bowman (Port Moddy, BC). From there, Canada was only able to score one run as Green advanced to home when Jimmy Van Ostrand (Richmond, BC) beat out a would be double play ball at first base.
Earlier in the game, Emerson Frostad (Calgary AB) and Jamie Romak (London, ON) each had base hits. In Romak’s next at-bat he was hit with a pitch on the knee which forced him to leave the game.
Looking at the game as a whole, Whitt was happy with his clubs performance in their first game together and can take many positives out of the loss.
“Overall, it was a good job,” explained Whitt “We were able to get four different pitchers out there and in the sixth inning we had the bases loaded and only were able to get one run out of it, so I’m satisfied.”
Trystan Magnuson (Vancouver, BC) came on in relief of Diamond in the third inning and was able to retire the first batter he faced to end the inning. Magnuson later pitched a scoreless fourth inning which was followed by another scoreless inning from Jimmy Henderson (Calgary, AB) who also picked up a strikeout.
Ryan Braun (Kitchener, ON) made his first appearance with the National Team in the sixth and promptly retired the side with one strikeout.
Canada won’t have to wait long to get another crack at Team USA as they will face them in another six inning game on September 27th. Immediately following the game, Canada will take on Puerto Rico in a six inning contest. According to Whitt, you can expect to see many different pitchers used and position players filtered in and out of the line-up.
“Hopefully after tomorrow’s games, all of our pitchers will have thrown one inning. Twelve innings is a lot after having three weeks off, so we’ll see how everyone is feeling and switch guys around if we need to.”
Notes: The Canada/ USA will game will begin at 12pm ET and will be immediately followed with a six inning game against Puerto Rico. …Fans can follow the action by visiting www.usabaseball.com . …All of this leads to the Pan Am Games/ World Cup Qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico from October 1st-13th .
