News

Baseball Canada’s national junior team beat Italy 10-0 today, to finish atop the Pool B standings and move onto the quarter finals at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Ciego de Avila, Cuba.

Jonathan Waltenbury (Bowmanville, Ont.) got the ball rolling with a solo homerun in the bottom of the first and Canada never looked back, shutting the Italians out in eight innings thanks to the international 10-run mercy rule. The Canadians scored twice in the fourth, twice in the fifth and three times in the sixth to extend their lead before scoring solo markers in the seventh and eighth innings.

Waltenbury went 2-for-3 with the homerun, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored while Chris Dennis (Windsor, Ont.) continued his hot streak by going 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and one run scored to pace the Canadians.

Meanwhile, starter Cory Hall (Regina, Sask.) overpowered the Italian hitters over seven innings of work, giving up only three hits and striking out 7 to earn the win.  Mehdi Djebbar (Montréal, Qué.) struck out two in the final frame to close out the game.

Chase Larsson (Vancouver, B.C.) was 3-for-5 with 3 runs scored, Shayne Willson (Surrey, B.C.) was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and Kyle Gilligan (Toronto, Ont.) was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI.

Canada now awaits its next opponent, which will be the fourth place team from Pool A. The two teams will battle Sunday at 2 p.m. EST for a spot in the semi finals.

Box Score

Standings: In the sidebar on the left, click on "Posiciones B"