ORLANDO-Malik Collymore (Mississauga, ON) hit the Junior National Team’s first home run of spring training, but it wasn’t enough as the Houston Astros prospects earned an 11-3 win as spring training continues.
A couple of JNT errors and two base-hits resulted in four Astros runs in the top of the first which came off of starter Adam Jafine (Toronto, ON).
Jafine tossed a scoreless second inning before giving up a triple and RBI groundout in the top of the third which put the Astros up by five.
Malik Collymore got things going in the home half of the third when he reached on an error, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout before Demi Orimoloye’s (Orleans, ON) groundout scored him from third base.
Owen Spiwak (Mississauga, ON) scored the second run of the inning after he singled, moved to second on a Kurtis Kostuk (Abbotsford, BC) single and crossed home plate after Chris Thibedeau (Dartmouth, NS) reached on an error.
Reliever Daniel Marquez (Cambridge, ON) was very effective coming out of the bullpen as he tossed two no-hit innings giving up three walks.
Marquez managed to get a fly-out to end the top of the fifth after a walk, a wild-pitch and a groundout put a runner on third base.
Zach Pop (Brampton, ON) took over for Marquez and allowed a run in the sixth before giving up a pair of solo home runs in the seventh to make the score 8-2.
Pop gave way to Kurtis Kostuk in the seventh who tossed two innings and gave up two runs on four hits with two strikeouts.
Collymore’s homer came in the bottom of the eighth when he led-off the inning.
Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) picked up his fourth hit in four games when he singled in the fourth, and Josh Naylor (Mississauga, ON) had a single in the seventh.
Notes: The juniors will be back at it tomorrow when they take on the Washington Nationals prospects at 1pm ET with Ben Onyshko (Winnipeg, MB) expected to start.
