ORLANDO – The Junior National Team erased a two-run deficit in the eighth and ninth innings and Kellin Deglan (Langley, BC) put the exclamation point on Canada’s comeback with a two-run walk off home run to give Canada a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros at the Disney Spring Training Camp.
The JNT were trailing 2-0 heading into the eighth inning when Jerod Bartnik (Surrey, BC) got the comeback started with a leadoff triple and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Jalen Harris (Toronto, ON) to cut the Astros’ lead to one.
Then in the bottom of the ninth, Justin Atkinson (Surrey, BC) hit a one out single leading way to Deglan’s heroics, who took a 2-0 pitch over the wall giving the Canadians the win.
The Astros got on the board quickly, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Mike Ellis (Surrey, BC) hit a batter with the bases loaded to bring in the first run.
Ellis would settle down after that, going three strong innings allowing the one run on two hits and a pair of walks with one strikeout.
The Houston lead became 2-0 in the fourth inning when a pair of errors led to the second run.
But the Canadian pitching staff held their team in the game throughout, allowing the offence to create some late inning magic.
Brian Bardis (St-Constant, QC) threw three solid innings, allowing an unearned run on one hit and three walks with one strikeout. Vaughn Covington (Vancouver, BC) pitched the remainder of the game and although he gave up six walks, he held the Astros offence at bay, shutting them out for three innings allowing a pair of hits while striking out one.
The JNT offence needed a little time to get going in this one, getting their first hit of the game in the fourth inning. They threatened in the sixth inning when Rowan Wick (North Vancouver, BC) and Chayse Marion (Red Deer, AB) hit back-to-back singles to lead off the frame. But Simon Brisebois (Mascouche, QC) hit into a fielder’s choice and Alex Calbick (Burnaby, BC) hit into an inning ending double play.
But the JNT broke through in the eighth and Deglan provided the fireworks in the ninth to complete the comeback victory.
The Junior National Team will play their final Disney Spring Training Camp game on Saturday, April 24 at 10 AM when they take on the Atlanta Braves at Champion Stadium at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex. Evan Rutckyj (Windsor, ON) is scheduled to start on the mound for the Canadians.
.jpeg)
