St. Petersburg, FL-The Junior National Team avenged a blowout loss to St. Petersburg Junior College two nights ago by defeating the Titans by a score of 6-3.
St. Petersburg scored twice in the bottom of the first and it looked as though it was going to be a one sided affair, but the Juniors received solid pitching and defence, while producing six runs on eleven hits.
“For the most part we played well defensively and threw enough strikes to give ourselves a chance,” said Head Coach Greg Hamilton.
“We have the players here, we have the makings of a solid club,” added Hamilton. “It’s just a matter of getting our feet under us and getting our reps in.”
Down 2-0 after one inning, the Juniors responded with two runs in the top of the second when Johnny Caputo (Toronto, ON), Guillaume Gingras (Levis, QC) and Chris Shaw (Winnipeg, MB) hit three consecutive singles with Caputo scoring on Shaw’s shot to right field.
With Gingras on third base, Jordan Schulz (Strasbourg, SK) lifted a fly-ball to deep right field allowing Gingras to easily tag and score the tying run.
Starter Steven Dressler (Burlington, ON) settled in after the first inning and threw a clean second inning on two ground-outs and a fly-out.
Jake Lumley (Windsor, ON) led-off the third inning with a single and advanced to third on an error before Jacob Robson’s (Windsor, ON) single brought in the go-ahead run.
The lead was short-lived as St. Petersburg scored a run in the bottom of the inning when the Juniors committed two of their three errors on the game.
In total, Dressler went three innings and allowed three runs, none of which were earned, on four hits and two walks. He also struck out one batter.
Dayton Dawe (London, ON) took over for Dressler in the fourth and turned in a terrific outing as he went three scoreless innings and allowed only one hit and no walks, while striking out two batters.
“Tonight I commanded my pitches well and my defence did a great job behind me,” said Dawe who was credited with the win.
In the seventh, the Juniors took advantage of some control issues on the St. Petersburg side as three walks load the bases with two out. After a wild-pitch, Jamar Burnette (Toronto, ON) scooted home to break the 3-3 tie.
Logan Seifrit (Spruce Grove, AB) entered the game in the bottom of the seventh and got into trouble after a walk and single, but managed a pop-out, fielder’s choice and strikeout to get out of the inning unscathed.
His offence gave him some insurance runs in the eighth when Michael Belliveau (Calgary, AB) and Zack Sardelliti (Milton, ON) hit back-to-back RBI singles with two out.
Seifrit threw a perfect eighth frame and Adam Anderson (Georgetown, ON) closed things out in the ninth and had one strikeout.
Notes: The Juniors will be back at it tomorrow evening when they take on the reigning IBAF World Cup Champions, the Netherlands at 5pm ET…Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, ON) is expected to start…National Team alum Chris Leroux of the Pittsburgh Pirates paid a visit to Al Lang Field tonight to see some old faces and take in some action…The Pirates Spring Training facility is in nearby Bradenton...The Juniors are participating in the St. Petersburg International Baseball Series from March 6th-13th and the complete schedule can be found HERE…This series is an important step in the process as the Juniors prepare for the IBAF 18U World Championship August 30th-September 8th in Seoul, South Korea…For more information on Baseball Canada’s Junior National Team Program, please click HERE.
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