The Junior National Team scored three runs in the sixth inning to take the lead for good and take a 4-1 win over Nicaragua in a seven inning game at the America’s World Junior Qualifier. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning with one out and runners on first and second, Jordan Wideman of Mississauga, Ontario pulled a single to drive in the winning run. The Canadians would add two more insurance runs in the inning on RBIs from Carter Bell of Courtenay, B.C. and Chad Stang of Surrey, B.C. Bell also scored the opening run of the game in the first inning on a sacrifice fly from Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C. Nicaragua tied the game in the third inning on an RBI single form Elmer Reyes that drove in Ariel Arguellos. On the mound, Brad Furdal of Ancaster, Ontario started the game and got things rolling by striking out the first four batters he faced. Furdal would finish the game with eight strikeouts in six innings of work, allowing one run on two hits with one walk. Nick Bucci of Sarnia, Ontario earned the save by allowing only one walk and a hit batsman. The final out of the game came from a pick off at first base when the catcher Jordan Wideman threw to first baseman Leslie Williams of Scarborough, Ontrario for the tag out. Presuming that the round robin portion of the schedule is completed, with the possibility of a game against the Bahamas still to be played, the Junior National Team will earn second place in Group A and would face the first place team in Group B in the semi-finals on Friday, August 31. The winner of the semi-final will play for the gold medal, while the other will play for the bronze. Both medal games will be played on Saturday, September 1.
The game between the Junior National Team and the Bahamas at the America's World Junior Qualification tournament was rained out. A make up date has yet to be announced. The Juniors are scheduled to face Nicaragua on Thursday, August 29 at 3 pm at Hacienda Stadium.
Phillippe Aumont of Gatineau, Québec, Colin Buckborough of Niagara Falls, Ontario and Ryan Kennedy of Calgary, Alberta combined to hold Venezuela to one run on two hits as the Junior National Team came out with a 3-1 victory at the America’s World Junior Qualifying tournament . Aumont started the game for the Canadians and was perfect in his two innings of work. He only faced the minimum of hitters and of the six batters he faced, he struck out five of them. Buckborough followed Aumont and allowed one run on two hits, all in the fourth inning. Maykor Rojas singled, stole second and moved to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch. Jose Rivero followed that with a single. Buckborough would pitch four innings, allowing the one run and two hits and would strikeout five. Kennedy would finish things off for the Juniors and would only allow two walks in his three innings of relief. Offensively, Carter Bell of Courtenay, B.C. and Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C. scored Canada’s three runs of the game. Both Bell and Lawrie would score in the first inning, Bell scored on Lawrie’s double after drawing a leadoff walk and Lawrie came around to score on a consecutive double from Leslie Williams of Scarborough, Ontario. Lawrie would score a second time in the third inning on a sacrifice fly from Chad Stang of Surrey, B.C. after hitting his second double of the game and advancing to third on a Williams single. Lawrie would finish 2-for-2 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI. Williams was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, Bell was 0-for-2 with a run scored and three walks and Jordan Wideman of Mississauga, Ontario and Brett Sanders of Etobicoke, Ontario were 1-for-3 and 1-for-4 respectively. Next up for the Junior National Team will be the Bahamas on Monday, August 27 at 9:30 am at Hacienda Stadium.
Cuba took an early lead on the Junior National Team and the Canadians could not catch up as they would fall in their America’s World Junior Qualifying tournament matchup, 11-2. The Cubans would jump out of the gate with an 8-0 lead after the third inning. Jossen Cuesta was 4-for-4 with an RBI and a walk to lead Cuba’s offence. The starting pitcher for Cuba, Freddy Alvarez, threw seven innings, allowing only two runs on four hits with a walk and eight strikeouts. For the Canadians, both of their runs came in the fifth inning. Chad Stang of Surrey, B.C., who reached on a single and was 2-for-3 with a walk on the day, came in to score on a wild pitch to put the Juniors on the board. Brett Sanders of Etobicoke, Ontario, who reached via the walk, scored on the double from Carter Bell of Courtenay, B.C. Evan Grills of Whitby, Ontario started on the mound and went two and 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits with three walks and two strikeouts to take the loss. Stosh Wawrzasek of Langley, B.C. came in after Grills and gave up four runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts in three and 2/3 innings pitched. Nick Bucci of Sarnia, Ontario finished the game and went two innings, allowing only two runners to reach base by walks and struck out one. Next up for the Junior National Team will be Venezuela on Sunday, August 26 at 3 pm at Hacienda Stadium.
The Junior National Team is in Mexico for the World Junior Baseball Championship Qualifier in Ixtapa, and now they know who they will be facing. The schedule sees the Juniors take on Cuba to open their tournament on Saturday, August 25 at 3 pm. They follow that with a game against Venezuela on Sunday, August 26 at 9:30 am. The Bahamas are next on Monday, August 27 at 9:30 am and to close out the round-robin, Canada takes on Nicaragua on Wednesday at 3 pm. The playoff round begins on Friday, August 31 with the gold and bronze medal games being played on Saturday, September 1. The team who qualify will be heading to the World Junior Baseball Championships in 2008, which will be held in Edmonton, Alberta. Canada has already qualified for the championship by virtue of being the host team. Also, for the parents of players who will be traveling to Ixtapa for the qualifier, you can call the following number for reservations, 1-866-295-6791.
Baseball Canada has named the 21 players who will be invited to the 2007 National Women’s Team Selection Camp. The players invited are: Vanessa Riopel, Repentigny, QCSarah Burgess, Halifax, NSKimberley Paul, Edmonton, ABKarine Gagné, Granby, QCAutumn Mills, London, ONNicole Luchanski, Edmonton, ABSusan Douthwright, Riverview, NBTia Wishart, Comox, BCGeneviève Beauchamp, St-Jérôme, QCAshley Stephenson, Mississauga, ONSamantha Magalas, Burlington, ONKate Psota, Burlington, ONMarie-Josée Tremblay, St-Honoré, QCPatricia Landry, St-Étienne-des-Grès, QCAmanda Asay, Prince-George, BC Martine Nadeau, Québec City, QCMelissa Armstrong, Saskatoon, SKAshleigh Leon, Toronto, ONStéphanie Savoie, La Pocatière, QCLindsey McLaughlin, Ottawa, ONCindy Saavedra, Toronto, ON The camp will start on August 26 in Windsor, Ontario before the team makes their way to Cary, North Carolina for the 3 Nations Cup with Team USA and Team Japan. This grouping consists of the three best teams in the world at this time. At the reigns will be André Lachance who is managing this team for his fourth season. Joining him will be assistant coaches Jean-François Lacroix, who is also the Pitching Coach, Wayne Parro and Eric Laforest. Isabelle Higgins is also among the coaching staff as a Guest Coach.
The Junior National Team was only able to collect four hits against Chinese Taipei pitchers as the Canadians were defeated by a score of 6-0 at the USA Exhibition Series in Joplin, Missouri. Kuo Lo Lung threw four innings and allowed only three hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. He also helped his cause with the bat, going 3-for-3 with three runs scored to lead the Chinese Taipei offence. Wen Hao Cheng feced the minimum in his two innings of work, dominating the Canadian hitters he faced. Of the six hitters he retired, three were by strikeout. Chen Yu Hung finished the game and only allowed one hit in his inning pitched. For the Canadians, Leslie Williams of Scarborough, Ontario led the offence as he collected two of the four hits, going 3-for-3. Michael Mutcheson of Morden, Manitoba and Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C. scattered the other two hits for the Juniors. On the mound, Brad Furdal of Ancaster, Ontario allowed five runs, only one of them earned, on seven hits with three strikeouts in four innings pitched. Cameron Gray of Toronto, Ontario followed Furdal and threw three innings of relief, giving up one run on four hits with a walk and a strikeout. The Junior National Team will play their final game in Joplin on Tuesday at 6 pm against Team USA at Joe Becker Stadium.
The Baseball Canada National Championships in Québec City was able to crown all of its champions, with one taking a little extra time to decide who would take the gold. Ontario and Québec played for 10 innings to determine who would take home the gold at the Midget championship. The game was tied 3-3 when Québec took the lead when Jordan Gilmour of Gatineau, Québec came in to score in the top of the tenth inning. However, Ontario was able to tie the game in the bottom of the tenth inning on the single by Jonathan Slattery of Mississauga, Ontario to score Skye Irwin of Toronto, Ontario and then win it later in the inning on the sacrifice fly from Tyler Patzalek of Burlington, Ontario to score Maxx Tissenbaum of Toronto, Ontario. In the bronze medal game, British Columbia won the bronze with a 3-1 win over Québec City. At the Pee-Wee championship, Ontario was crowned champion with a win over Québec by a score of 5-1. British Columbia earned the bronze medal in a slugfest, 15-8 over Saskatchewan to finish third. In a game that saw Issael Gonzalez of Montreal, Québec dislocate his shoulder on a slide at home plate to score a run, Ontario (Windsor) took home the gold medal with an 8-2 win over Québec at the Junior championship. British Columbia won the bronze medal with an 8-2 win over New Brunswick. Québec are the champions at the Bantam championship, as they defeated British Columbia, 7-1 to win the gold medal. The host team of Québec City was the winner of the bronze medal by beating Alberta by a score of 8-0. For updated information and scores at all championship tournaments, please be sure to check out the Championships link here on our website.
The Junior National Team jumped out to an early lead in the first inning, but it would not last long as Premier took control the rest of the way and ended up on top with a convincing 12-4 win at the USA Exhibition Series in Joplin, Missouri. Ryan Westmorelanf was 3-for-3 with three RBI to lead the Premier offence. Gregory Holt was 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored and Peter Hissey was 3-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored. As for the Canadians, Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C. went 2-for-4 with a run scored to lead the offence. Leslie Williams of Scarborough, Ontario was 2-for-2 and Jeff Hunt of Cambridge, Ontario, Michael Crouse of Port Moody, B.C. and Michael Mutcheson of Morden Manitoba each drove in a run. It was not a good day for the Canadian pitchers. Daniel Britton-Foster of Ladysmith, B.C. threw four innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Jake Eliopoulos of Newmarket, Ontario allowed four runs on four hits with two walks and one strikeout in only 2/3 of an inning pitched. Leslie Williams threw two and 1/3 innings and allowed tree run on three hits and Greg Densem of Toronto, Ontario allowed two runs on two hits with a walk in one inning of relief. Next up for the Junior National Team is a matchup with Team USA at Joe Becker Stadium on Sunday at 7 pm in Joplin.
The Americans took control of the game early and did not look back as they came out on top by a score of 10-3 over the Junior National Team at the USA Exhibition Series in Joplin, Missouri. The Canadians were not able to get anything going offensively as they were only able to get six hits in the ball game against the Americans. Chad Stang of Surrey, B.C. led the offence going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Evan Grills of Whitby, Ontario took the mound for the Juniors and threw five innings allowing three runs on seven hits with a pair of walks and four strikeouts to take the loss. Nick Fogarty of Thornhill, Ontario came in relief and the US offence continued to drive in runs. The US drove in seven runs off Fogarty, six earned, on 10 hits. Fogarty also gave up a walk and had five strikeouts, all in four innings of work. Other notable Canadians in this game, Jeff Hunt of Cambridge, Ontario was 1-for-3 with a run scored and Michael Crouse of Port Moody, B.C. was also 1-for-3 in the game. The Junior National Team will now face Chinese Taipei on Monday at 5 pm at Joe Becker Stadium. The Canadians are 0-2 against Chinese Taipei in this exhibition series.
