BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic-The Seattle Mariners Dominican prospects limited the Junior National Team to only three hits and took advantage of five errors as they blanked the juniors 5-0 at their brand-new Dominican Academy.
Luke Horanski (Dugald, MB) singled in the third, but was thrown out trying to steal second, Royce Ando (Mississauga, ON) picked up an infield single in the fourth before being forced out at third later in the inning, and in the ninth, Matt Lloyd (Okotoks, AB) singled with two out for the juniors’ third and final hit on the afternoon.
The Mariners did walk eight batters, but the juniors couldn’t take advantage and left nine runners on base including three separate occasions where they left two runners on.
Starter Matt Ianni (Ottawa, ON) got through the first inning giving up a walk only to see the runner doubled-off at first base on a line-out to second and another pop-out to end the inning, but after a walk and stolen base with two out in the second, a single to centre brought in the first run of the game.
Ianni looked to get out of the third unharmed after he got a double play after a lead-off single, but a single came around to score on a triple to left-centre that gave the Mariners a two-run lead.
Ianni came back out for the fourth and walked a batter with two out, but got a pop-out to end the frame and ended his four-inning outing giving up two runs on five hits and four walks.
The juniors had a chance to make some noise offensively in the fifth loading the bases when Josh Naylor (Mississauga, ON) walked, while Tristan Clarke (Brampton, ON) was hit by a pitch with one out and Luke Horanski followed with a walk. A groundball to third however, off the bat of JF Garon (Terrebonne, QC) was scooped up by the Mariners third baseman who stepped on the bag and fired to first for an inning ending double play.
With reliever Alexis Lavergne (Gatineau, QC) on the mound for the bottom of the fifth, the Mariners pushed across their third run of the game taking advantage of a throwing error in the outfield to go up 3-0. The juniors had thwarted a leadoff double tossing a runner out at home trying to score on a single earlier in the inning.
Lavergne tossed a perfect sixth inning including one strikeout, but the Mariners scored two more runs in the seventh to increase their lead to five.
The defence did not help Lavergne as they committed three errors in the inning, while he gave up a walk and a double.
In total, Lavergne went four innings and gave up three runs although none of them were earned, walked one batter and struck out one batter.
Up Next: The juniors face a doubleheader tomorrow on their last day on the island. Up first is a match-up with Dominican prospects from the Colorado Rockies at 10:30am ET at the Rockies complex in Boca Chica. Following the game the team will travel to Santo Domingo to face some of the Dominican Republic’s top ‘July 2nd’ eligible talent at Estadio Quisqueya with the first pitch scheduled for 6:30pm ET.
You can receive live updates from both games by following @Team_C_Updates on Twitter.
Twitter: @baseballcanada / @Team_C_Updates
