Baseball Canada’s national junior team now sits in a tie for first place in Pool B action at the World Junior AAA Championships in Ciego de Avila, Cuba after coasting to a 12-4 win over Spain yesterday.
Spain’s 1-0 lead in the second inning was short lived as Canada opened the flood gates with a two-run third inning, a three-run fourth and a four run fifth to stymie the Spaniards.
Canada’s youngest player, second baseman Brett Lawrie (Langley, B.C.) was 4-for-6 with a homerun, a double, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored to spark the Canadians. Chase Larsson (Vancouver, B.C.) was 2-for-4 and also drove in three runs while Jonathan Waltenbury (Bowmanville, Ont.) was 2-for-3 with 1 RBI, Shayne Willson (Surrey, B.C.) was 1-for-4 with 2 RBI and Leslie Williams (Scarborough, Ont.) was 1-for-4 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.
The win helped Canada improve to 2-0 and a share of the top-spot in their pool, along with Chinese Taipei. The top four teams from each pool will advance to the quarter finals.
Southpaw Michael Goemans (Guelph, Ont.) earned the win in relief by striking out five Spanish batters and allowing four hits over 3.2 innings of work. Starter Kyle Orr (Victoria, B.C.) was replaced with one out in the fifth inning after having allowed four runs on seven hits and four strikeouts. Mehdi Djebbar (Montréal, Qué.) struck out two of the batters he faced in the ninth inning to close out the victory.
Canada (2-0) will look to remain undefeated, today, against a hungry United States (0-2) team who lost their two first games of the tournament to Mexico and Chinese Taipei. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m. EST.
Standings
POOL B POOL A
Canada 2-0 Cuba 2-0
Chinese Taipei 2-0 Australia 1-1
Mexico 1-1 Korea 1-1
Italy 1-1 Netherlands 1-1
United States 0-2 Panama 1-1
Spain 0-2 South Africa 0-2
