CHITRÉ, Panama – The Canadian Junior National Team can now focus on winning a bronze medal at the COPABE U18 Pan Am Championships after dropping their final game of the Super Round to the Dominican Republic by a score of 8-2.
BOX SCORE: Dominican Republic 8, Canada 2
Canada opened the scoring when Denzel Clarke (Pickering, ON) drew a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the first but the Dominican Republic were quick to answer in the second with a pair of runs to take a lead that they would not give up.
With two out in the fifth, a fielding error by first baseman Owen Diodati (Niagara Falls, ON) put a runner on second before a base hit to left scored him. A walk put runners on the corners and spelled the end for starting pitcher Tate Dearing (White Rock, BC) before another error plated two more runs to give the Dominican Republic a 5-1 lead.
Dearing did not allow an earned run over four and two-thirds innings of work where he allowed five hits and three walks while striking out two batters.
Canada’s offence was limited to just three hits, a Bo Naylor (Mississauga, ON) single in the first, a Dasan Brown (Oakville, ON) single in the eighth and a Denzel Clarke double in the ninth but had chances to score via 12 walks issued by Dominican Republic pitching. Canada left 16 runners on base including the bases loaded on three occasions.
The Dominican Republic added three runs in the seventh coming on three hits and walk off reliever Jaden Griffin (Lower Sackville, NS) to give them a commanding lead.
UP NEXT: Canada will face Nicaragua on Sunday for the bronze medal at Rico Cedeño Stadium in Chitré with the first pitch set for 10AM ET…RHP Ben Abram (Georgetown, ON) is expected to get the start on the mound.
Scores, Schedule (Panama Instagram)
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