BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic-It didn’t take long for the Junior National Team to get accustomed to their new surroundings in the Dominican Republic as they smashed-out 11 hits en route to defeating the Minnesota Twins Dominican prospects 13-3.
Matt Lloyd (Okotoks, AB) led the offence driving in four runs, while Mike Soroka (Calgary, AB) was solid on the mound tossing five innings without allowing an earned run to record the win.
Lloyd’s double to centre in the third inning opened the scoring as Tristan Clarke (Brampton, ON) and LP Pelletier (Montréal, QC) came into count on the play.
Both Clarke and Pelletier had multi-hit games with Clarke going 2-for-2 with three runs scored and Pelletier going 2-for-4 with three runs scored.
The Twins got one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning when a two-out bunt single came around to score on a throwing error.
JF Garon (Terrebonne, QC) picked up his first of two extra base hits on the day when he belted a triple that scored Mitch Bigras (Sarnia, ON) all the way from first base. Garon later came into score on a wild pitch to give the juniors a four run cushion.
After Soroka worked a quick three-up, three-down fourth, the juniors piled-on for four more runs and the rout was officially on. Tristan Clarke walked, moved to third on a single from LP Pelletier and after Matt Lloyd reached on a fielder’s choice, Josh Naylor (Mississauga, ON) singled to right scoring Pelletier, while Lloyd scored when the ball was misplayed by the right fielder. Naylor scored the innings’ fourth run on a wild pitch.
Soroka gave-up a run scoring double in the fifth after a walk, fielder’s choice and error and ended his five-inning outing allowing two hits and three walks, while striking out three.
Kyle Ross (Maple Ridge, BC) took over for Soroka in the sixth and worked his way out of a two-out jam with runners on the corners by getting a groundout to third where third baseman Mitchell Robinson (Surrey, BC) made a nice throw on the run to get the batter at first.
The juniors put the game completely out of reach plating three runs in the top of the seventh as newcomer Peter Hutzal (Calgary, AB) worked a one-out walk in his first plate appearance with the Junior National Team and later came around to score along with Tristan Clarke when Matt Lloyd singled up the middle.
Brad Smith (Vancouver, BC) came out of the bullpen for the eighth and ninth frames and retired five straight before giving up a two-out double. Smith was able to get the next batter to pop-out to first base to end the game.
Notes: The juniors will be back in action tomorrow with a pair of games in San Pedro de Macoris. At 10:30am ET, the juniors will take-on prospects from the Toronto Blue Jays Dominican Academy before travelling down the road to visit the Milwaukee Brewers DSL club at 2:30pm ET…LHP Ben Onyshko (Winnipeg, MB) is slated to start against the Jays, while RHP Zach Pop (Brampton, ON) gets the nod against the Brewers…You can receive live updates from both contests by following @Team_C_Updates on Twitter.
Twitter: @baseballcanada / @Team_C_Updates
