ETOBICOKE, Ontario- The Junior National Team began their Cuba Summer Series preparations today at Connorvale Park taking on a team assembled by the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau consisting of some of the top up-and-coming 15 and 16 year-olds in Ontario and Québec.
The teams played twelve and a half innings with 13 different Junior National Team pitchers combining to limit the Futures to seven hits and one run in a 9-1 victory.
The juniors pounded out 16 hits highlighted by Mitch Robinson (Surrey, BC) who went 2-for-5 including a two-run homer in the ninth that cleared the fence in left field.
Josh Naylor (Mississauga, ON), JF Garon (Terrebonne, QC) and Mitchell Bigras (Sarnia, ON) had three hits apiece with Bigras collecting two doubles, while Naylor and Garon each had one to go along with one RBI.
On the mound, Mike Soroka (Calgary, AB) worked a perfect first inning with one strikeout, while Kyle Ross (Maple Ridge, BC) and Ben Onyshko (Winnipeg, MB) were also perfect in their respective appearances on the mound.
Onyshko was particularly impressive making quick work of the Futures with three straight strikeouts in the seventh.
The juniors scored three times in the bottom of the second as Josh Naylor led off with a double and later scored on an error. Charles Leblanc (Laval, QC) and Robert Byckowski (Georgetown, ON) each drove in a run.
With the score 5-0, the Futures got on the board in the ninth as a run came in on a passed ball with the bases loaded.
The juniors put the game away scoring two in the bottom of the ninth on Robinson’s homer and added another two in the eleventh on RBI singles from Matt Lloyd (Okotoks, AB) and Josh Naylor.
Up Next: The Junior National Team will celebrate Canada Day in style as they will be guests of the Toronto Blue Jays and participate in pregame festivities prior to the Jays taking on the Milwaukee Brewers at 1pm ET…Following the game, the juniors will practice at Rogers Centre before holding another workout on Wednesday…On July 3rd, players, coaches and staff will fly to Varadero, Cuba to participate in an eight game exhibition series against the Cuban 18U National Team…All eight games will take place at Victoria de Girón Stadium in Matanzas.
Live game tweets from Cuba will be available via Baseball Canada’s Twitter account, @baseballcanada. Daily game stories will be posted after each game on Baseball Canada’s official website, baseball.ca.
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