Jaden Griffin’s six shutout innings highlighted a 7-2 win for Adam Hall and his Canadian Junior National Baseball Teammates over the DSL Astros to give the squad its first victory of the week.
In the afternoon contest, the juniors held the lead until the fifth before the Yankees pushed across two runs to tie and went ahead with two more in the sixth. They hung on for an 8-6 win.
The juniors are now 1-5 with six games remaining on the tour.
In the win, Edouard Julien ripped a two out single to right in the top of the first and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Noah Naylor then lined a pitch to right and Julien hustled around third to score the first run of the game.
Two walks and an error brought in a run for the Junior National Team in the third. Rhys Cratty and Cooper Davis were issued free passes and Cratty moved to third when Hall flew out to right. With two out Davis broke for second and the catcher’s throw sailed into centerfield that allowed Cratty to trot home.
Infield singles from Michael Stovman and Dondrae Bremner in between a walk to Archer Brookman loaded the bases in the third and with two out Rhys Cratty drew a walk that brought in the third run of the ballgame.
Julien reached via walk with one out in the eighth and came around to score after three wild pitches, advancing one base at a time.
The juniors tacked on three insurance runs in the ninth with Michael Stovman leading off with a double to left before scoring on Archer Brookman’s single to right to get things started. Brookman then scored from third on a Victor Cerny groundout before Damiano Palmegiani roped a single to right that cashed in Dondrae Bremner to close out the scoring for the Junior National Team.
Against the Yankees, the juniors got things started in a big way in the top of the second as Julien belted a two run homer over the wall in right field.
The Yankees pulled even in the home half of the third plating a pair of runs on a RBI double, while a wild pitch scored the other.
Hall got things going in the fourth with a hard single to left and Noah Naylor followed with a walk. On the first pitch of his at bat, Michael Stovman launched a ball to the gap in right that went for a ground rule double to score Hall and regain the lead. The hits kept on coming as Rhys Cratty lined an 0-1 pitch the opposite way to right to score Naylor, while Jason Willow hit into a fielder’s choice that brought in Stovman.
The Yankees kept coming and closed the gap to one with two runs in the fourth. With one out, starter Tate Dearing gave up a double and then issued a wild pitch to put a runner on third with a sac fly to right bring in a run. A solo home run over the wall in right made it 5-4.
The offence continued in the fifth as Cooper Davis tripled to the gap in left that saw Archer Brookman score all the way from first base and the Junior National Team regained their two run lead.
Cade Smith took over for Dearing in the fifth and allowed three straight singles combined with an error that led to a run. With runners on first and second and two out, a single to centre brought in a run to tie the score.
The seesaw battle continued in the sixth as the Yankees took the lead with two more runs. Smith hit the first batter of the inning and issued a walk to the next before a single to centre brought one in. With one out, the Yankees executed a successful double steal with runners safe at second and home.
|
