Morgan still going strong with the bat
*Gareth Morgan (North York, Ont.) continues his hot hitting with the Toronto Mets.
2011 Canadians in the June draft
By Bob Elliott
North York’s Gareth Morgan is home.
He’s no longer hitting the ball off the 375-foot sign in right centre off a pro pitcher in the Dominican, as he did with the Team Canada National Junior Team.
He’s playing against players the same age as him, almost.
Morgan, a grade nine student, went 4-for-10, with two doubles and two RBIs as the Toronto Mets 16s swept the Ottawa-Nepean Canadians in a doubleheader.
The next day he hit a homer in each game for the Mets 18s in another sweep of the Canadians.
Morgan also hit a two-run homer as the Mets knocked off the Ontario Blue Jays 16s 7-6.
And in his spare time he plays for the North York bantams.
Mets right-hander Andrew Simonetti threw a no-hitter in a 2-1 win over Ontario Blue Jays needing 85 pitches, as he walked two and struck out a pair.
The Mets and Jays split their four-game series.
Right-hander Yuji Suzuki pitched a complete-game, three-hitter, striking out six in an 18-2 win against the Jays, while outfielder Conor Ledger hit .466 in the four-game series (7-for-15) with a pair of doubles, knocking in four runs and scoring six times.
Final 40: Coach Marc Picard and his staff have narrowed their selection for the Ontario Youth team camp from the over 200 who tried out to a final 40. They’ll work out Aug. 5-6 at Kinsmen Stadium before heading to Baseball Canada’s Canada Cup in Moncton later this summer.
The Ontario Terriers led the way with 12 players invited from their three teams, coached by Scott Van de Valk, Rick Johnston and John McEwan: Adam Anderson, Tom Byckowski, Michael Clouthier, Dayton Dawe, Nick Dimpfel, Toby Handley, Steven Jannetta, Cal Quantrill, Travis Seabrooke, Zack Sardellitti, Kyle Thalheimer and Bruce Yari.
The players selected and their coaches are from the:
Ontario Blue Jays, coached by Jamie Pogue and Shawn Travers (seven): David Ertl, Joey Guaragna, Daniel Peake, Daniel Pinero, Sean Ratcliffe, Owen Spiwak and Ryan White.
Toronto Mets, coached by Ryan McBride and Bob Roberts (five): Johnny Caputo, Connor Ledger, Shawn Lee, David Marcus and Mitchell Triolo.
Windsor Selects, coached by Chris Soulliere (four): Jake Lumley, Justin Orton, Daniel Procopio and Brett Siddall.
London Badgers, coached by Mike Lumley (three): Mike Ambrose, Nolan Anderson and Kyle Zimmer.
Tecumseh Thunder coached by Dave Cooper and Jeff Dalton (three): Manik Jandoria, Jacob Robson and Damion Smith. -
Ottawa-Nepean Canadians, coached by Don Campbell (two): Alex Gagne and JD Marks.
Etobicoke Rangers, coached by Denny Berni (one): Alex Thrower.
Oakville A’s, coach by John Holloway (one): Blake Weston.
Oakville Royals, coached by Mike Sienna (one): Cam Wilkie.
Team Ontario, coached by Murray Marshall (one): Dakota Dafreitas.
Seabrooke, a rangy left-hander, had his fastball clocked at 86 m.p.h. Quantrill, the son of former Blue Jays right-hander Paul Quantrill, was clocked at 85.
Siddall, son of former Montreal Expos catcher Joe Siddall, showed as a left handed power hitter possible the best hitter in camp.
Going deep: Richmond Hill’s Nick Dimpfel, 16, hit a long walk-off walk off homer for Ontario against Colorado in the Junior Sunbelt Series in Oklahoma. The ball landed 20 feet beyond the 380-foot fence in left centre field and was hit into a strong wind.
At the senior Sunbelt, Ottawa’s Alex Gagne threw a complete game win 90-pitch, 12-2 win over Oklahoma Blue. He also worked two innings in a 15-11 loss to Georgia. Ontario beat Oklahoma Gold 9-5, while losing 12-6 to Arizona and 10-4 Tennessee, as Anthony Buonaiuto threw two scoreless.
Happy 100th: Hamilton’s George Carruth, 85 attended the 100th anniversary of the Brantford Red Sox. Billy Gibbs and Carruth took part in the pre-game ceremonies.
Carruth wore Hall of Fame Enos (Country) Slaughter’s hand-me-down uniform top and the bottoms of former Cardinals all-star Terry Moore in 1945 at class-C Winston-Salem.
Gibbs was 5-7 with a 6.11 ERA, while Carruth hit .270 in the in Carolina League.
Carruth played on the 1949 Brantford champs and was playing manager of the 1960-61-62 champs.