Laconia NH- The JNT had a whirlwind day on Thursday flying from Toronto to Boston and immediately jumping on a bus to open their pre-worlds tour against the Laconia Muskrats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. After rallying to tie the game in the top of the 9th, the JNT eventually fell to the Muskrats by a score of 6-5.
The top of the first started out well for the JNT as lead-off batter Emmanuel Forcier (St-Hyacinthe, QC) reached first base via a bunt and eventually came around to score the game’s first run on a Rowan Wick (North Vancouver, BC) RBI ground out. Canada scored twice more in the frame to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Mike Ellis (Surrey, BC) had the start for the JNT and battled some control issues in the first, walking two batters and allowing Laconia to score a run to jump back into the game. Ellis conceded that he didn’t have his best stuff on the night.
“I started to over think it and didn’t trust my stuff,” he said. “I’m a pitcher that needs to get ahead in the count and throw strikes.”
Ellis finished the night throwing 4 and 2/3 innings giving up 4 runs, walking 6 hitters while striking out 4. Coming out of the bullpen for the JNT was Nicholas Pivetta (Victoria, BC) who was able to thwart the Laconia attack for 2 and 1/3 innings, something that Head Coach Greg Hamilton (Ottawa, ON) took as a positive from the game.
“Pivetta threw the ball well,” said Hamilton. “He got a lot of ground balls and was very efficient in the strike zone.”
Another positive for the JNT was a 2 for 3 effort from DH Philip Diedrick (Ajax, ON) highlighted by a 4th inning solo homerun.
“I was looking for a good pitch to hit, a pitch I could drive” said Diedrick of the blast that cleared the right field fence. “Originally I thought it was going to be a double, but it had enough to get out.”
Laconia was able to nurse a 1 run lead through the latter innings of the ballgame until the top of the ninth inning when the JNT showed some grit by tying the game. With runners on first and second and 2 out, Emanuel Forcier hit a soft grounder to third that rolled under the third baseman’s glove allowing the tying run to score.
In the bottom half of the ninth however Laconia led-off with a single with the runner advancing to second on a wild pitch from new pitcher Brian Smith (Pickering, ON). The following batter laced a double into the gap in right centerfield bringing home the games winning run.
The JNT will have an opportunity to even their pre-worlds record on Friday night as they travel to Nashua, NH to face the Lowell All-Americans with the first pitch coming at 7:05pm. The pre-worlds tour leads to the World Junior Baseball Championships in Thunder Bay, ON beginning on July 23rd.
The 2010 IBAF World Junior (18U) Baseball Championship will host national teams from Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, Panama, Venezuela and the United States. Teams will begin qualifying games on July 23rd and the tournament will culminate in the Gold Medal game on August 1st at the Port Arthur Stadium in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Visit the website at www.worldbaseball2010.com. For tickets, please call Toll Free 1-877-422-3201.
