LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida- Josh Naylor (Mississauga, ON) belted the Junior National Teams first home run of Spring Training, a solo shot, but it wasn’t enough as the juniors fell to the Detroit Tigers prospects 9-5.
The juniors had their best offensive output of the week as the team combined for 11 hits with three coming off the bat of Naylor. Demi Orimoloye (Orleans, ON) and Mitch Robinson (Surrey, BC) doubled, while LP Pelletier (Montréal, QC) had two singles. Gareth Morgan (Toronto, ON), Ian Wilson (Toronto, ON), Luke Horanski (Dugald, MB) and Darren Shred (Brampton, ON) all singled.
On the mound, starter JP Stevenson (Hunter River, PE) allowed one run on four hits and a walk. He managed to strikeout three batters.
Reliever Zach Pop (Brampton, ON) had the best performance from the JNT pitchers on the afternoon tossing two scoreless frames allowing one hit and one walk to go along with one strikeout.
Matt Ianni (Ottawa, ON) struck out one batter, but issued five walks and allowed four runs in 1 1/3 innings of work before Colton Wood (Victoria, BC) entered the game.
Wood struck out one, but was touched up for four runs on six hits and three walks.
Up Next: The juniors will face minor leaguers from the Houston Astros tomorrow at 1pm ET…LHP Kurtis Horne (Sooke, BC) is expected to start.
