OTTAWA-The Detroit Tigers prospects scored five runs in the second inning and held off the Junior National Team to earn a 10-4 win in Fall Instructional League play.
The four runs scored by the juniors along with six hits was their finest offensive performance of the week against the older and much more experienced professional competition.
Gareth Morgan (Toronto, ON) was the top offensive performer against the Tigers as his double in the fourth scored two runs as the juniors cut the lead to 7-3 after four innings.
The Tigers got to JNT starter Brad Smith (Vancouver, BC) in the second as a pair of walks came around to score on a triple, and after a double, another triple and a throwing error; the Tigers quickly led 5-0.
A lead-off home run in the third put the Tigers up by six and Smith’s outing ended after three innings of work that saw him give up six runs on four hits and three walks, while striking out three batters.
Matt Lloyd (Okotoks, AB) got the juniors on the board in the bottom of the inning when he walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on another wild pitch to make the score 6-1.
With Mike Soroka (Calgary, AB) now on the mound, the Tigers added a run in the fourth on a two-out, RBI single before Morgan’s double scored two in the bottom of the inning.
Soroka got into trouble early in the fifth allowing a single, hitting a batter and giving up an RBI double before retiring the next three batters to end the inning.
A scoreless sixth saw his line through three innings show two runs scoring, although only one was earned, on four hits and a hit batter to go along with two punch outs.
Mitch Bigras (Sarnia, ON) added an RBI single in the sixth before the Tigers scored two in the ninth off of reliever Nolan Bumstead (Calgary, AB) who had tossed scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth.
Notes: The juniors will face the Houston Astros prospects tomorrow at 1pm ET in Orlando with JP Stevenson (Hunter River, PEI) expected to start.
