BRADENTON, Florida - The Junior National Team had a hot start to their final game of the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup, playing a near perfect game over three and a half innings however, it was all Panama after that as they managed to score runs in the third, fourth and fifth inning to secure a 5-2 victory over the Canadians.
BOX SCORE – Canada 2, Panama 5
Canada got on the board first thanks to a Sam White (Aurora, ON) RBI groundout that scored Hugh Pinkney (Toronto, ON) who had singled earlier in the first inning. The Canadian catcher was a spark all day for the offence as he came up in the top of the third and smashed a 1-out double that allowed him to later score the second run via a Sam Shaw (Victoria, BC) RBI single to right field.
Parker Burgees (Douro-Dummer, ON) was the starting pitcher for Canada working four complete innings of three runs on four hits while striking out three. Jack Pineau (Thunder Bay, ON) and Makaio Cisneros (Whitby, ON) both worked an inning in relief allowing no earned runs.
Two more runs would cross the plate for Panama in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a pair of miscues by the Canadian defence.
Canada finishes the Placement Round of the event with a disappointing 2-3 record, pushing them outside of the top ten in the competition.
The Junior National Team Program will look to bounce back as the COPABE qualifiers for the 2023 U-18 Baseball World Cup will take place later this year in La Paz, Mexico.
