HOUSTON, Texas-Team USA combined to steal seven bases, punch-out thirteen hits, while limiting the Junior National Team to only five hits as they cruised to a 9-1 victory today at Cougar Field on the campus of the University of Houston.
The win gives the United States three consecutive victories over Canada with one game remaining in the series tomorrow before both teams depart Wednesday for Mexico and the 18U Pan American Championship/World Cup Qualifier.
“They’re a good club and if you’re going to beat the United States you’re going to have to play all facets of the game,” said Head Coach Greg Hamilton. “You have to pitch, play well on defence and get timely hitting. We haven’t been able to do that since we’ve been down here and if you can’t against these types of teams you’re not going to win.”
Team USA got to Canadian starter JP Stevenson (Hunter River, PE) early in the bottom of the first as a two-out double to the gap in left off the bat of Lucas Herbert scored two runs.
In the second a two-out double haunted Stevenson and Canada again as another run came in when Team USA’s Trenton Clark hit a ball in the gap in left that staked the Americans out to a 3-0 lead.
Team USA starter Kolby Allard was tremendous through three innings on the mound holding Canada hitless giving up just one walk, while striking out four.
“He’s outstanding – the key to him is his arm is effortless and you can’t pick-up (his) pitches,” explained Hamilton.
In the fourth, after Allard exited the game, Canada got two runners aboard when Luke Horanski (Dugald, MB) walked and Gareth Morgan (Toronto, ON) was hit by a pitch with one-out. Both runners moved into scoring position on a groundout, but a pop out to first base ended the threat.
After giving up back-to-back doubles in the third that brought in the fourth Team USA run of the game, Stevenson worked his way out of a jam in the fourth getting a strikeout and a pop-out to second base with runners on second and third.
Team USA had a no-hitter going through five and two-thirds innings before LP Pelletier (Montréal, QC) lined a single to left in the sixth. Luke Horanski followed with a double to the gap in right-centre before being thrown out at third base trying to stretch it into a triple.
Colton Wood (Victoria, BC) took over for Stevenson in the fifth and turned in a solid inning getting a groundout and a pair of fly outs to end the frame, but the US scored used RBI singles in both the seventh and eighth innings to add to their lead.
In the eighth, Canada loaded the bases after a walk, single from Mitch Robinson (Surrey, BC) followed by another walk, but JF Garon (Terrebonne, QC) lined out to the first baseman who stepped on first to double-off Charles Leblanc (Laval, QC).
The US tacked on three more runs in the third off of reliever RJ Freure (Burlington, ON) to put them game out of reach before Pelletier picked up his second hit of the game in the ninth and moved to third on a Gareth Morgan double only to be left on base.
With one game left in the series, the goal of qualifying for the 2015 18U World Cup with a top four performance next week in Mexico is something for the team to remain focused on above all else. Head Coach Greg Hamilton is confident that his group will be ready when the games start to count.
“We’ve got a clearly defined (team) objective that we need to get done and I believe we will get done,” stated Hamilton. “Again, we’ve got guys on our side who haven’t played in three weeks and they need to get their touches (here).
“The difference on the other side (USA) is they’ve got guys who are pitching 91-93 (miles per hour), and you can afford to be a little bit off, it’s forgiving. Our guys don’t run it up like that, so they have to hit spots. When they haven’t pitched for three weeks, it makes a difference.”
Notes: The four-game Canada/USA series will conclude tomorrow at Cougar Field on the campus of the University of Houston with a 1:30pm ET first pitch… You can follow this game pitch-by-pitch with live scoring courtesy of USABaseball.com and by following @Team_C_Updates…Following the exhibition series against Team USA, Canada will participate in the 18U Pan American Championship/World Cup Qualifier from September 5th – 14th in La Paz/Los Cabos, Mexico where the top four teams will qualify for the 2015 IBAF 18U World Cup in Koshien, Japan.
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