ORLANDO-The Atlanta Braves prospects brought their bats to the ballpark today as they smacked-out 12 hits and scored eight runs for an 8-1 win over the Junior National Team in spring training action.
The Braves broke open a scoreless tie in the top of the 3rd when starter Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, ON) allowed three singles, a triple and walk to put the Braves in front 3-0.
Reliever Travis Seabrooke (Peterborough, ON) took the mound in the 4th and recorded two quick outs before a single, error and double brought in the fourth Braves run of the game.
In the bottom of the inning, Jake Lumley (Windsor, ON) led-off with a walk, advanced to second on a wild-pitch before moving to third when Mailk Collymore (Mississauga, ON) reached on an error.
Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) then came to the plate and delivered a sacrifice-fly that scored Lumley from third to give the juniors their first run of the game.
After Seabrooke tossed a scoreless frame in the top of the 5th, Owen Spiwak (Mississauga, ON) doubled with two out and one on in the bottom of the inning, and Morgan Lofstrom (Kelowna, BC) walked to load the bases.
Jordan Schulz (Strasbourg, SK) was then gunned down at the plate on an attempted steal which ended the inning.
Seabrooke tossed scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth and finished his outing by going three innings and giving up only one run on three hits, while recording two strikeouts.
The juniors loaded the bases again in the bottom of the 6th after back-to-back singles from Malik Collymore and Tyler O’Neil, and a Braves error which saw Josh Naylor (Mississauga, ON) reach, but all three runners were left stranded to keep the score 4-1.
The Braves added another run in the 7th which came when a lead-off walk scored following two groundouts and an error. The unearned run came off of reliever Nathan Borges (Brooklin, ON) who replaced Seabrooke on the mound.
Borges allowed two more runs in the eighth, although both were unearned, and another in the ninth which gave the Braves a commanding 8-1 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, O’Neill picked up his second hit of the game when he smacked a two-out double only to be left on base when a ground-out ended the game.
Notes: The juniors will play and inter-squad game on Sunday before Taking on the Detroit Tigers prospects on Monday at 10am ET. Dylan Brooks (Dorchester, ON) is slated to start against the Tigers.
