GUERRA, DR- Nathan Borges (Brooklin, ON) and Daniel Marquez (Cambridge, ON) combined on a six-hit shutout and JD Osborne (Whitby, ON) went 4-for-4 including a two-run homer as the Junior National Team cruised to an 11-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers Dominican prospects.
The game took place at the Dodgers Dominican Complex in Guerra which was the first Dominican academy constructed back in 1986.
Borges was extremely efficient in throwing only 64 pitches in six innings of work to pick-up the win.
He allowed only five hits, two of which came in the sixth inning, walked two and struck out five batters.
The juniors loaded the bases in the top of the third on a walk, hit batter and single before Mitchell Bigras (Sarnia, ON) lined a single to right that scored two runs.
After JD Osborne and Morgan Lofstrom (Kelowna, BC) each scored on a pair of wild pitches, Josh Naylor (Mississauga, ON) came up with runners on second and third and delivered a single to right scoring both runners.
Borges kept the Dodgers bats at bay from the third through fifth facing only ten batters. He allowed a single in the fifth but promptly picked off the runner with a quick move to first.
Osborne collected his third hit of the game when he led off the seventh with a double to the gap in left field and later moved to third on a passed ball and scored on an error to put his team up by seven.
The juniors went onto add two more runs in the frame with Chris Thibedeau (Dartmouth, NS) and Jake Lumley (Windsor, ON) picking up RBIs.
Daniel Marquez took over for Borges in the seventh and picked up exactly where his teammate left off by recording a perfect inning on a fly-out, strikeout and groundout.
In the eighth he gave up a two-out single, the only hit he allowed in the game, but got a groundout to third to end the inning.
Osborne put the finishing touches on a fine day at the plate in the ninth as he belted a two-run homer that landed on top of the building beyond the left field fence that made the score 11-0.
The win gives the JNT an overall 4-2 record through six games in the Dominican Summer League with five games still to play before the team departs the country on Friday.
Notes: The juniors will travel to Boca Chica tomorrow morning where they will take-on the Philadelphia Phillies Dominican prospects at 10:30am before jumping on the bus and heading to San Pedro de Macoris for an afternoon tilt with the Detroit Tigers…Dylan Brooks (Dorchester, ON) will get the ball against the Phillies, while Connor Noble (Vancouver, BC) gets the nod against the Tigers…The trip will wrap-up on Thursday evening when the juniors will travel to Santo Domingo to face some of the top MLB Dominican prospects that will be eligible to sign with big-league clubs on July 2nd.
