Nivins homers twice in tie with Dodgers

A year ago when the Team Canada National Junior Team toured the Dominican Republic an island legend was born.Brett Lawrie hit five -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 -- home runs in a doubleheader against the Seattle Mariners. He hit two to left, two to right and in his final at-bat went deep to centre field. Tanner Nivins (Kitchener, Ont.) wasn't Brett Lawrie, but he sure wasn't bad, hitting two homers in the second game of a doubleheader as the Canucks played the rookie-class Dominican summer league Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-4 tie at Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic. The Canadians lost the opener of the doubleheader 3-1 to the Philadelphia Phillies. Nivins hit a 3-2 pitch out of the park to cut the Phillies lead to 4-3 in the sixth. And in the ninth, Nivins hit a 3-1 pitch for a second solo shot of the day. Not Lawrie, but real impressive. Darren Kolk (Duncan, BC) and Wes Darvill (Langley, BC) hit back-to-back doubles in the first. Darvill scored on a RBI single from Adam Nelubowich (Stoney Plain, Alta.) for a 2-0 lead. The Dodgers would immediately respond in the bottom half on the first. After they would load the bases with nobody out, a fielder?s choice and a base hit brought in a pair of runs and tied the game 2-2. The Dodgers scored a pair in the fifth. Jeff Hunt (Cambridge, Ont.) pitched in the ninth, working out of a one-out, man on second situation. Hunt ended the threat quickly as a ground ball went for the second out and when the runner was nabbed going to third it completed an inning-ending double play. In the opener, Brian Bardis (St. Constant, Que.) shut down the Phillies for three innings, allowing one base runner -- on an error -- as he struck out a pair. strikeouts. Kolk drew a leadoff walk, stole second, advancing to third on a grounder and after Brandon Dailey (Brantford, Ont.) reached on a dropped third strike, the Canadians executed the perfect double steal for a 1-0 lead. The Phillies loaded the bases against Jeff Gibbs (Toronto, Ont.) with two outs in the fourth. A two-run, single followed by a passed ball allowed three runs to score and the Phillies jumped to a 3-1 lead. Gibbs put up two more zeros. On the day he allowed three runs -- two earned -- on three hits and two walks while striking out a pair.  two strikeouts in three innings pitched. RHP Jerome Werniuk (Toronto, Ont.) threw the final three innings, allowing only two hits.