ORLANDO, FL – The Houston Astros were able to capitalize on nine walks and four errors from the Junior National Team as the Astros’ prospects would go on to score runs in every inning except two and come out on top with a 13-3 win over the Juniors.
What seemed like relentless offence from the Astros began right away in the first inning when a leadoff walk, a pair of singles and an error made it 2-0 for Houston. A double and two ground outs to short allowed the Astros to increase their lead by one.
The Astros would then score a pair of runs in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings and put a stranglehold on the Juniors with a 9-0 lead.
The Canadians broke out some offence in the sixth inning when Michael Crouse (Port Moody, BC) hit his second home run of the spring to lead off the inning and break the goose egg.
The momentum would carry into the seventh inning when Ivan Hartle (North Vancouver, BC) mimicked Crouse with a leadoff home run, his first of the camp. James Kottaras (Markham, ON) and Brett Lawrie, (Langley, BC) followed up with back-to-back doubles to reduce the lead to 9-3. Lawrie was 3-for-3 with the RBI double in the game.
However, the Astros’ prospects killed the momentum the Canadians generated by scoring two more runs in the eighth inning on a walk, a triple and a wild pitch to make it 11-3. Houston would add two more runs in the ninth inning to complete the scoring.
Next up for the Junior National Team on their Spring Training schedule is a matchup with the Cleveland Indians on Thursday, April 17th at 1 pm.
