U-18 World Cup: Power surge leads Canada over Australia
BASEBALL CANADA – THUNDER BAY, Ontario – Back-to-back first inning home runs from Archer Brookman (Pointe Claire, QC) and Michael Stovman (Maple Ridge, BC) and a three-run blast from Edouard Julien (Québec, QC) in the second paved the way for Canada to score an 8-2 win over Australia and pick up a much needed win at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup.
Box Score – Canada 8 Australia 2
The win sets up a must-win scenario tomorrow for Canada where a win over winless Nicaragua (5PM ET) would put Canada into the Super Round that gets underway on Thursday.
“We’re anticipating a scrappy and loose Nicaragua squad so wee need to be ready,” said Canadian Manager Greg Hamilton. “Hopefully we can come out (tomorrow) and put a few runs on the board early like today to take some of the pressure off.”
Canadian starter Jack DeCooman (North Vancouver, BC) provided six solid innings of work on the mound allowing just one run on five hits and two walks while striking out three to record the win. A single and double in the fifth led to a sac-fly for the only Australian run off DeCooman.
Reliever Cade Smith (Abbotsford, BC) finished the contest going three innings and giving up one run on four hits and a walk along with one strikeout.
“Jack and Cade were huge for us tonight,” explained Hamilton. “We used some pitchers last night that we didn’t necessarily want to use (in a win over Italy) so for Jack and Cade to come out tonight and do what they did gives our pitching options more flexibility moving forward.”
Canada rounded out their scoring in the fifth on a bases loaded walk and an RBI single off the bat of Dondrae Bremner (Toronto, ON) to bring in two runs.
The home runs from Brookman, Stovman and Julien were all their second of the tournament giving Canada a total of seven through four games.
“We’re not a team that’s going to knock the fences down but we’ll take it,” added Hamilton. “It’s tournament baseball so you score runs anyway you can. Hopefully that continues for us tomorrow.”
Live scoring for tomorrow’s contest against Nicaragua will be available via the WBSC website.
WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup Schedule
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Photos for editorial use, credit WBSC/Christian J. Stewart: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/52fge8t3h33pfep/AAAWR30dyB_d7I85RTU9je-Ha?dl=0
ADAM MORISSETTE
BASEBALL CANADA
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