Turbaco, Colombia-The Junior National Team picked up their second win of the Americas World Junior Qualification Tournament with a 6-1 victory over Brazil.
Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, ON) tossed five innings of shutout ball to earn the win on the mound.
“It was a collective effort today,” said Head Coach, Greg Hamilton. “Cal started well for us and filled up the strike-zone.”
“The Juniors put up two runs in the first inning as Brett Siddall (Windsor, ON) scored the game’s first run on a single from Brendan Hendriks (Cochrane, AB). Later in the inning, Daniel Pinero (Toronto, ON) scored on a sac-fly from Dustin Houle (Penticton, BC).
Quantrill didn’t allow a hit until the top of the fourth when the Brazilians hit back to back singles.
Up 3-0 in the fifth, Quantrill got out of a one-out jam when the Canadians recorded a 6-4-3 double play with runners at the corners.
“We simplified things on defence and we’re playing catch,” explained Hamilton. “We’re making routine plays and when you do that you have a good chance to win baseball games.”
Jesen Dygestile-Therrien (Montréal, QC) came on for the sixth and seventh innings and picked up right where Quantrill left off. Therrien allowed only one hit in two innings of work and struck out one batter.
In the seventh, the Juniors improved their lead to 6-0 with a three-run outburst. Jacob Robson (Windsor, ON) walked and Siddall hit his second RBI double of the game to score Robson from first who was running on the play.
Siddall scored when Hendriks ripped an opposite field double to left for his second RBI of the game. Hendriks moved to third base on a Houle single and scored the third run of the inning on a wild pitch.
Tom Robson (Ladner, BC) allowed Brazil’s only run of the game in the eighth, before holding them off the scoreboard and sealing the victory with a scoreless ninth inning.
“Tom gathered himself after the eighth and pitched aggressively in the ninth,” added Hamilton. “The umpire was tough. Tom knew he needed to be better in ninth and it ended up being a good finish for him.”
Canada will now have two days off before facing their next opponent, the Netherlands Antilles at 9:30am ET on Monday.
“I’m a firm believer in taking care of our own business,” said Hamilton when asked how his team will handle the two off days. “If we take care of our club and focus on the task at hand we’ll be fine.”
Notes: Brett Siddall continued his torrid pace at the plate today with a 3-for-4 effort and two RBI…It is expected that Monday’s game with the Antilles will be streamed LIVE on the internet: http://www.tv.une.net.co/zonastream/ …As always, for the latest information and LIVE in-game updates, be sure to follow Baseball Canada on Twitter: www.twitter.com/baseballcanada ... The top four teams at the end of the tournament will qualify for the 2012 World Junior Baseball Championship in Seoul, South Korea.
Here is an update of tournament scores:
November 17th
Canada 7 Panama 3 (Group A)
USA 15 Aruba 0 (Group B)
Venezuela 7 Guatemala 1 (Group A)
Puerto Rico 5 Argentina 1 (Group B)
Colombia 3 Mexico 2 (Group B)
November 18th
Aruba 15 Bahamas 0 (Group B)
Venezuela 3 Antilles 2 (Group A)
USA 3 Mexico 1 (Group B)
Canada 6 Brazil 1 (Group A)
