St. Petersburg, FL-The Junior National Team showed the effects of a long winter off the baseball field as they suffered 17-5 defeat to the reigning World Cup (Senior) champions from the Netherlands. The older and more experienced Dutch squad scored eight runs in the third inning and never looked back as they cruised to victory.
Opening day jitters combined with the first time outdoors for many players since last fall also played a role in the outcome as the Dutch recorded fifteen hits including three homeruns and benefitted from eight walks and three hit batters.
Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, ON), the 2011 JNT MVP, started on the mound and looked terrific in the first inning as he recorded three straight strikeouts after surrendering a lead-off triple. He came back out for the top of the second and put up another scoreless frame including one strikeout.
Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, ON) came on for the third inning and allowed a single and hit a batter before a three-run homerun opened the scoring. Quantrill’s struggles continued as he allowed two more hits and hit another batter before being removed from the game in favour of Steven Dressler (Burlington, ON).
When the dust settled after the third inning, the Juniors found themselves trailing 8-0.
The Juniors got a run back in the top of the fourth when Daniel Pinero (Toronto, ON) scored on a fielder’s choice from Gareth Morgan (Toronto, ON). Pinero had reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to third on a single from Brett Siddall (Windsor, ON).
Siddall went 2-for-4 on the evening with two singles, while Jacob Robson (Windsor, ON) and Kyle Hann (Oakville, ON) collected singles.
The Dutch would go on to score three times in both the fourth and fifth innings before scoring another run in the sixth to go in front 15-1.
Dayton Dawe (London, ON) was touched-up for three runs, while striking out two batters before giving way to Michael Clouthier (Guelph, ON) who allowed only one run in two innings of work.
The Juniors did not go down quietly as they scored four runs in the top of the seventh as Michael Belliveau (Calgary, AB) hit a two-run single in his JNT debut, while Bryan Saucedo (Toronto, ON) had an RBI single. Jordan Schulz (Strasbourg, SK) scored the fourth run of the inning on a wild-pitch.
Netherlands hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to round out the scoring.
Notes: The JNT will be back in action tomorrow when they take on St. Petersburg Junior College at 7:05pm ET from Al Lang Field…Clayton Isherwood (Van Anda, BC) is expected to start and the game can be heard LIVE by clicking HERE…The Juniors are participating in the St. Petersburg International Baseball Series from March 6th-13th and the complete schedule can be found HERE…This series is an important step in the process as the Juniors prepare for the IBAF 18U World Championship August 30th-September 8th in Seoul, South Korea…For more information on Baseball Canada’s Junior National Team Program, please click HERE
