AJAX, Ontario - Chris Leroux (Mississauga, ON) fired six shutout innings and Jordan Lennerton (Langley, BC) belted a three-run homer to lead Canada to a 4-1 win over the Dominican Republic on the first day of the Pan American Games men’s baseball competition.
“I was really happy with the way we played tonight,” said Canadian manager Ernie Whitt. “Chris took the ball and gave us the start we needed and Lenny gave us a big hit when we needed it.
“Tonight was a big win.”
Box Score – Canada 4 Dominican Republic 1
Leroux gave Canada six solid innings on the mound scattering six hits and striking out eight batters to keep the Dominicans off the scoreboard. He worked his way out of trouble twice getting a strikeout and groundout after giving up a pair of one out singles in the second and left a runner standing on third in the third recording a strikeout to end the frame.
"He gave us six strong innings,” added Whitt. “He came out after five and said he was good for one more."
It didn’t take long for Canada’s offence to get going as Pete Orr (Newmarket, ON) drilled a triple off the wall in centre and later scored when Tim Smith (Toronto, ON) followed with a sac-fly to right field in the bottom of the first.
From the second to the fifth innings Canada’s bats went silent but that all changed in the sixth as they struck for three runs all coming courtesy of a Jordan Lennerton three-run homer. Pete Orr drew a walk with two out and Tim Smith followed with an infield single before Lennerton sent a ball into the Canadian bullpen beyond the right field wall.
“He threw me a pitch I was looking for,” said Lennerton. “It was a good feeling seeing the ball leave the park. Tonight was a big win for our team.”
The Dominicans got on the scoreboard in the seventh getting a leadoff homer off reliever Andrew Albers (North Battleford, SK) who took over for Leroux to start the inning. Albers was lights out afterwards recording six consecutive outs including three strikeouts. In the ninth, Jeff Francis (North Delta, BC) came out of the bullpen and earned the save sitting down all three batters he faced on two strikeouts, while a fly out to right field ended the game.
In using Leroux, Albers and Francis, Canada pitched three of their veteran arms to pick up the win.
"The plan was the win and I wanted to go with the most experienced arms,” explained Whitt. “It worked out well for us tonight.”
Up Next: Canada faces a quick turnaround with a match-up against Colombia tomorrow at 3:30pm ET on Field 2 at President’s Choice Ajax Pan Am Ball Park…RHP Jared Mortensen (Abbottsford, BC) is scheduled to start…The best way to keep up with the action is by following @baseballcanada on Twitter…For tournament standings, scores and stats, and to receive live game updates, please click here.
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