Baseball Canada – HAVANA, Cuba – The Junior National Team dropped their fourth game in a row in the nine-game Cuba Summer Series and are still in search of their first win after a 9-1 loss to the Cuban U-18 National Team. The game featured just seven hits with Cuba accounting for five of them, and saw neither team collect a hit from the fourth through seventh innings. Walks were the story for Canada as Cuba benefitted from 12 free passes including six in the fifth that saw Cuba score four runs without recording a hit.

The series continues tomorrow.

GAME INFORMATION

Score: Cuba (U-18) 9 Canada (U-18) 1

Location: Estadio Latinoamericano – Havana, Cuba

Weather: 32 degrees Celsius, A few clouds

 

Canada 18U Starting Lineup:

1. Cooper Davis – CF

2. Edouard Julien – DH

3. Adam Hall – SS

4. Tyler Duncan – RF

5. Noah Naylor – 1B

6. Clayton Keyes – LF

7. Dondrae Bremner – 2B

8. Jason Willow – 3B

9. Archer Brookman – C

Starting Pitcher: LHP Harley Gollert

HOW IT HAPPENED

-The Cubans took advantage of a hit batter when JNT starter Harley Gollert (Toronto, ON) plunked the first batter of the game, as they moved the runner to second on a sacrifice bunt before a base hit brought him home from second.

-Cuba kept coming in the second as a couple of walks and an infield slap single loaded the bases with one out before a base hit to left brought one run in that saw left fielder Clayton Keyes (Calgary, AB) throw a runner out at home plate trying to score from second base.

-In the home half of the inning, Noah Naylor (Mississauga, ON) legged out an infield single and too off for second when Clayton Keyes chopped a ball to third base. With Keyes called out at first, Naylor took off for third and an errant thrown by the Cuban first baseman allowed him to score.

-Things unraveled for the juniors in the fifth as six walks, three from Gollert and three from reliever Landon Leach (Pickering, ON) coupled with two wild pitched saw four Cuban runs score. They did not record a hit in the half inning.

-Leach managed to put up zeroes in the sixth and seventh innings, but a one out walk in the eighth, followed by a hit and run put runners on the corners before a sac-fly to right brought the runner in from third.

-Walks reared their ugly heads again in the ninth as Leach issued a pair of free passes with one down before a double to centre scored booth of them. A nice relay from Cooper Davis, Adam Hall (London, ON) and Jason Willow (Victoria, BC) got the greedy runner trying for a triple.

JNT HIGHLIGHTS

-Leach didn’t have his best stuff at the beginning and end of his outing, but in between he was stellar as he struck out the side in the sixth before getting three groundouts in a perfect seventh.

-The outfield assist from Keyes in the second followed by the relay in the ninth that saw a runner tagged out at third were two defensive highlights for the juniors.

TEAM LEADERS

Hits: 1, Davis (1/3), Naylor (1/4)

Runs: 1, Naylor

Stolen Bases: 1, Keyes

Strikeouts: 5, Leach; 3, Gollert

UP NEXT

Canada and Cuba will play a game five of the Cuba Summer Series tomorrow at Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana with the first pitch at 3pm ET…Ben Abram (Georgetown, ON) will get the start on the mound…Live tweets will be available by following @Team_C_Updates on Twitter.