Guerra, DR-Gabriel Guerrero, nephew of former Montréal Expo and member of the Toronto Blue Jays organization Vladimir Guerrero, hit a two-run home run and showed off an abundance of tools as the Seattle Mariners Dominican prospects defeated the Junior National Team 10-3.
The Mariners used fifteen hits and scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning which included Guerrero’s blast over the wall in left field.
Jacob Robson (Windsor, ON) led the game off with a single to left, advanced to second on Kyle Hann’s (Oakville, ON) one-out single and scored from second when Gareth Morgan (Toronto, ON) hit a flare that dropped into centerfield for a base-hit.
The Mariners responded with three runs in the second off JNT starter Dayton Dawe (London, ON) who allowed three singles and a walk. Dawe didn’t get much help from his defence as three errors were also committed during the inning.
In the fourth Owen Spiwak (Mississauga, ON) hit a single to right field which brought home Hann from second base. Hann had walked earlier in the inning and reached second on Morgan’s second single of the game.
Morgan ended up on third base after Spiwak’s single and attempted to tag and score on a Chris Shaw (Winnipeg, MB) fly-ball to right field.
On the play, Guerrero caught the ball in right field and fired a rocket that one-hopped to the catcher who tagged Morgan out at home plate. The throw left many at the ballpark shaking their heads in awe.
Guerrero showed even more resemblance to his uncle when he homered to left field in the fourth which highlighted the five-run Mariners outburst.
Dawe’s afternoon ended after the fourth as he gave up eight runs, four of which were earned, while managing four strikeouts.
Brock Dykxhoorn (Goderich, ON) took over in the fifth and the Mariners scored two more runs off three doubles and a walk to jump in front 10-2.
Not to be outdone by his right field counterpart, Gareth Morgan hit a home run of his own in the top of the sixth for his second bomb in as many days. Morgan’s high, solo shot cleared the fence in left field.
Dykxhoorn managed to shut down the Mariners explosive offence on the sixth and Jason Tarapasky (Pierrefonds, QC) threw two scoreless innings and struck out two in the seventh and eighth innings.
Notes: The juniors will play the Tampa Bay Rays Dominican prospects tomorrow morning at 11am ET in Guerra…Dylan Brooks (Dorchester, ON) is expected to start on the mound…The only way to stay up-to-date is by following Baseball Canada on Twitter (www.twitter.com/baseballcanada).
The Dominican Camp is one of two camps remaining prior to the IBAF 18U World Championship in Seoul, South Korea August 30th-September8th. There will be a Final Camp and exhibition series from August 15th -27th where the final 20-man roster will be selected for the world championship.
Click HERE for roster, schedule and pitching rotation.
