OTTAWA- The Baseball Canada Cup got underway earlier today with seven games played between Cairns Field and Leakos Field in Saskatoon.
All teams in Pool A (BC, Alberta, Ontario, Québec) have one win and one loss, while Nova Scotia, PEI and Saskatchewan are atop the Pool B standings with one win each.
Here’s a look at all of the action from day one:
Québec 4 Ontario 1
Ryohei Suzuki’s (Toronto, ON) single in the top of the fifth scored Shane Paradis (LaSalle, ON) to open the scoring, but Québec stormed back with three runs in the bottom of the inning and added another in the sixth en route to a 4-1 victory. Matthew Chiz (Pointe-Claire, QC) singled in the tying run in the home half of the fifth and he later came around to score on Thomas Morissette’s (Ste-Julie, QC) two-run triple to right field. Ontario’s RJ Freure (Burlington, ON) and Québec’s Vincent Beauregard (Laval, QC) were locked into a pitcher’s duel for four innings with Freure striking out three, while Beauregard had six. Oscar Rodriguez (Montréal, QC) pitched two innings in relief and fanned four to earn the save. Tristan Pompey (Mississauga, ON) went 3-for-3 with a double to lead the Ontario offence.
Alberta 8 BC 7 (8 innings)
Sean Robbins (Edmonton, AB) scored from third base on a Kobe Hyland (Spruce Grove, AB) grounder to second in the bottom of the eighth to give Alberta an extra-innings win over BC. BC scored three runs in the first only to see Alberta storm back with four in the second as the teams combined for 23 hits in the high scoring affair. BC benefitted from five Alberta errors and also received offensive contributions from Jesse Mycock (Victoria, BC) and Tanner Rempel (Abbotsford, BC) who each had two hits and one RBI. Lichel Hirakawa-Kao (Vancouver, BC) and Nik Favaro (Burnaby, BC) each had a pair of hits including one double. For Alberta, Justin King (Okotoks, AB) had a pair of doubles as part of a 3-for-3 day at the plate to go along with two RBI, while Hyland, Robbins and Matt Purschke (Stony Plain, AB) collected two hits apiece.
Nova Scotia 4 New Brunswick 3 (8 innings)
Jake Sanford’s (Cole Harbour, NS) single up the middle in the bottom of the eighth scored Aidan O’Brien (Hebbville, NS) and Jamie Whynot (Bridgewater, NS) with the winning run as Nova Scotia walked-off New Brunswick 4-3 in eight innings. New Brunswick had taken the lead in the top half of the eighth on a Declan Buckle (Dieppe, NB) RBI single only to see Nova Scotia come back and earn the win in the bottom of the inning. Both teams received solid pitching performances with Nova Scotia’s Jake Lonar (Coldbrook, NS) going five and one-third innings, while Ryan Sanderson (Cow Bay, NS) came on in relief to earn the win. New Brunswick’s Jake Cook (Miramichi, NB) threw five innings and struck out six, while Leeam Young (Miramichi, NB) tossed one scoreless frame. Samuel Cameron (Fredericton, NB) hit the first home run of the week with a solo blast in the fourth to put his team up by two. Nova Scotia came back with two runs in the fifth with both scoring on a fielder’s choice followed by an error with the bases loaded.
PEI 11 Newfoundland and Labrador 1 (6 innings)
PEI scored five runs in the top of the first innings and never looked back as they earned a mercy-rule, six-inning 11-1 win over Newfoundland and Labrador. Jed Noonan (Albany, PE) paced the PEI offence with three hits including a triple, while Kyle Pinksen (Kensington, PE) and Darcy Affleck (Stratford, PE) each drove in a pair. Pinksen earned the win on the mound tossing four innings allowing only one hit and striking out four.
BC 16 Québec 8
BC and Québec combined for 24 runs and 31 hits with BC eventually coming out on top after scoring seven runs in the fifth to win 16-8. Québec went up by one in the first only to see BC come back with runs in the second and third to go out in front. Québec scored three runs in each of the third and fourth innings to go back out in front before BC went ahead for good in the fifth. Jesse Mycock (Victoria, BC) paced the BC offence with three hits including a triple and four RBI, while Geoff Ehresman (Vancouver, BC), Tom Melenchuk (Surrey, BC) and Brendan Halstrom (Pitt Meadows, BC) each drove in a pair. Thomas Morissette (Ste-Julie, QC) collected three hits including a double and drove in two, while Isaac Deveaux (Montréal, QC) went 2-for-4 with three RBI for Québec. Josh Burgmann (Nanaimo, BC) struck out seven in three innings of work for BC and Garrett Goodall (Nanaimo, BC) earned the win after tossing two scoreless innings in relief.
Ontario 8 Alberta 4
Ontario exploded for four runs in the fifth inning and held on for an 8-4 win to pick up their first victory of the tournament, while handing Alberta their first loss. Jeremy Orton (Ruthven, ON) got things going in the fifth with a run scoring double, while Matthew Bondy (Harrow, ON) and Shane Paradis (LaSalle, ON) added RBI singles. The game was a close affair through four with Ontario pulling ahead on two occasions only to see Alberta tie the score each time. Alberta’s Kurt Meeberg (Edmonton, AB) went four and one-third innings on the mound and gave up six runs (two earned) while managing five strikeouts. Cole White (Barrie, ON) earned the win for Ontario with a five-inning effort, while Niall Windeler (Toronto, ON) picked up the two-inning save. Tristan Pompey (Mississauga, ON) and Andrew Yerzy (North York, ON) had two hits each for Ontario, while Nick Vickers (Calgary, AB) collected two hits for Alberta.
Saskatchewan 12 Manitoba 2 (6 innings)
Saskatchewan gave their hometown fans plenty to cheer about early scoring twice in the bottom of the first and five times in the second as they went on to defeat rival Manitoba 12-2 in a six-inning, mercy-rule game. Dolan Kunkel (Saskatoon, SK) provided six solid innings on the mound and Saskatchewan pounded-out 14 hits with seven different players having multi-hit games. Dylan Flasch (Lloydminster, SK) went 2-for-4 with 4 RBI , while teammate Brett Esau (Meadow Lake, SK) was 2-for-3 with three RBI for the winners.
Up Next: Tournament play continues tomorrow with eight games scheduled beginning at 10:30am EST.
Follow all of the action live!
Live Scoring via Pointstreak
Live Stream (Cairns Field only)
Baseball Canada Cup website
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