San Pedro de Macoris, DR- Clayton Isherwood (Van Anda, BC) threw seven innings and gave up only two runs, while striking out six to lead the Junior National Team to a 5-2 win over the Atlanta Braves Dominican prospects.
“I had a good bullpen before the game and carried that through my outing,” said Isherwood. “My game plan was to keep the ball down (in the strike zone) and I was able to do that.”
The juniors continued their streak of scoring in the top of the first inning as Kyle Hann (Oakville, ON) hit a triple to right field on a ball that got under the fielder’s glove and rolled all the way to the fence.
With Hann on third, Nathan DeSouza hit a sac-fly to centerfield and the juniors were out to an early 1-0 lead.
The lead didn’t last long however, as the Braves scored twice in the bottom of the inning with two out. Isherwood allowed a double before two errors and a RBI single put the Braves up 2-1.
In the fourth, the juniors loaded the bases after an error and two walks which paved the way for Jordan Schulz (Strasbourg, SK) who hit a sacrifice-fly to centerfield which brought in Gareth Morgan (Toronto, ON) from third base.
From there Isherwood kept the Braves off balance locating his fastball and throwing his breaking ball for strikes.
“My fastball was my best pitch today,” he said. “I was able to get ahead early in counts which allowed me to use my breaking ball a little more.”
The juniors jumped out in front in the top of the seventh when Kyle Hann walked and ended up moving to third base on a Nathan DeSouza single to right field. Gareth Morgan then worked a walk which brought Brett Siddall (Windsor, ON) to the plate who reached on a ball misplayed by the first baseman which allowed Hann to score the go ahead run.
Still in the top of the seventh, Jesse Hodges (Victoria, BC) was hit by a pitch on a pitch that skimmed his jersey which brought in DeSouza and the juniors led 4-2.
With a low pitch count, Isherwood came back out for the seventh and turned in a perfect inning with one strikeout.
Isherwood’s seven innings were the longest a pitcher has gone for the JNT on the Dominican trip.
Isherwood allowed only two runs on four hits, while walking three batters and striking out six.
The juniors added an insurance run in the top of the ninth as Siddall and Hodges hit back to back doubles to make the score 5-2 and Brock Dykxhoorn (Goderich, ON) was impressive in relief as he struck out four in two perfect innings.
The juniors will travel down the road this afternoon to take on the Detroit Tigers Dominican prospects at 2:30pm ET…Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, ON) gets the start on the mound and the only way to stay up-to-date is by following Baseball Canada on Twitter: www.twitter.com/baseballcanada
