ORLANDO – The Junior National Team opened their Disney Spring Training Camp schedule with an 8-2 defeat at the hands of the Houston Astros at Champion Stadium at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Astros opened the scoring in the second inning on back-to-back singles and a ground out to take a 1-0 lead against JNT starter Evan Grills (Whitby, ON). That would be the only run allowed by Grills, who gave up three hits a walk to go along with two strikeouts in two innings of work.
Jesen Therrien (Montreal, QC) came in relief in the third inning and had a little trouble finding the strike zone early after walking the first two batters. A double steal and a single drove in two more runs for Houston who took a 3-0 lead.
Therrien would settle down after that, pitching three solid innings, allowing the two runs on three hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts.
The Astros would blow it open in the sixth inning, scoring four runs to bump their lead to 7-0. Jonathan Paquet (Ancienne Lorette, QC) was tagged with all four runs, allowing four hits and a walk in 2/3 of an inning.
The JNT would get on the board in the seventh inning after Philip Diedrick (Ajax, ON) and Ryan Johnson (Winnipeg, MB) both drew walks and advanced on a wild pitch, Jerod Bartnik (Surrey, BC) grounded out to drive in Diedrick and make it 7-1.
Both teams exchanged runs in the eighth inning to make it 8-2. Among the highlights for the JNT was Emmanuel Forcier (St-Hyacinthe, QC) who went 2-for-3 in the ball game.
After the contest, the JNT competed in an intersquad game, Team White defeated Team Red 3-1. Chris Robinson (Uxbridge, ON) went 2-for-2 in the game for Team Red. Levi Westerlund (Oyen, AB) gave up a run in three innings of work for Team White, spreading four hits and a walk in his outing. Johnson and Cédric Vallières (Roxton Pond, QC) combined to throw three innings of scoreless baseball in relief for Team White.
Next up for the JNT is a matchup with the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, April 18 at 10 AM at Champion Stadium. Tanner Spencer (Craik, SK) is scheduled to start for Canada.
