ORLANDO, FL – The game started off well for the Junior National Team, but then the Atlanta Braves offence would blow the game wide open with a big sixth inning and would hand the Juniors a 14-3 setback.
The Braves offence would explode for eight runs in the sixth to take control of the game. They would add three runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings to add to complete the scoring.
But it was the Canadians who took the lead early with a home run from Michael Crouse (Port Moody, BC) to leadoff the second inning and taking a 1-0 lead.
The Canadians would add to that lead in the fourth inning when Brett Lawrie (Langley, BC) led off the inning with a double and would come in to score on a Carter Bell (Courtenay, BC) groundout. With two outs in the inning, Jonathan Gilbert (St-Georges, QC) drew a walk and Crouse was hit by a pitch which brought up Jeff Hunt (Cambridge, ON). Hunt hit a ground rule double to score Gilbert and put Canada ahead 3-0.
Nathan Linseman (Ariss, ON) started on the mound for Canada and put up a solid performance, giving up only two hits and a walk in two innings of work.
Evan Grills (Whitby, ON) followed Linseman and was perfect in his outing, going two innings and striking out a pair in the process.
But the Braves found their offence in the sixth and would score 14 runs on 10 hits for the remainder of the game, including the eight run sixth inning.
The next Spring Training Camp game for the Junior National Team will be against the Detroit Tigers on Monday, April 14th at 1 pm.
