Robson (Tom) tosses five, Robson (Jacob) singles, swipes second
*RHP Tom Robson (Ladner, BC), pitched five innings in a 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins rookie-class Dominican Summer League team./Baseball Canada photo.
by Adam Morissette
BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic -- After arriving late Wednesday in the Dominican Republic, the Junior National Team took the field against the Minnesota Twins rookie-class Dominican Summer League team and were handed a 4-2 loss.
The Twins scored two runs in both the second and seventh innings, while the Juniors put two runs across in the eighth inning.
Veteran JNT member RHP Tom Robson (Ladner, BC) took the ball and worked five innings of four-hit ball, giving up two walks and striking out five batters.
With one out in the second, he allowed a triple and he came home when Robson unleashed a wild-pitch. Later in the frame, a double followed by a hit batter and a single put the Twins ahead by two.
Gareth Morgan (Toronto, Ont.) led-off the third inning and later stole second, but was left stranded after two fly outs and a strikeout.
Robson walked two batters in the fourth inning, but managed to escape with no damage done after a runner was thrown out trying to steal third and the other runner left stranded on second base.
RHP Roberto Suppa (Connor, Ont.) took the hill retired the first two batters he faced on a ground-out and strikeout in the sixth. Suppa then hit a batter and gave up a single to put runners on first and second with two out, but eventually got out of the jam when the runner from second was thrown out at third.
Jacob Robson (Windsor, Ont.) made his JNT debut and singled in the seventh with two out and then used his speed to swipe second base.
The Twins got to Suppa in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two runs on two hits, a walk and two wild-pitches. Jake Hansen (Fort Macleod, Alta.) relieved Suppa with two gone and closed out the inning.
The Juniors broke the goose egg in the eight with two runs as Brendan Hendricks (Cochrane, Alta.) and Dustin Houle (Penticton, BC) each singled, Justin Marra (Toronto, Ont.) and Morgan walked, while Chris Shaw (Winnipeg, MB) was hit by a pitch. Both runs came with two out in the inning.
Hansen gave up a lead-off walk in the eighth before retiring three straight batters to finish his outing by going 1 1/3 innings, giving up the lone walk and recording a strikeout.
Notes: The JNT will play a doubleheader on Friday as they take on the Seattle Mariners at 10:30am ET and the Milwaukee Brewers at 2:30 pm ... RHP Skylar Janisse (Maidstone, Ont.) will start against the Mariners and Jesen Dygestile-Therrien (Montréal, QC) will be handed the ball against the Brewers ... Temperatures in Boca Chica reached 40 degrees Celsius ... Long-time National Team player and former pro Adam Stern (London, Ont.) made his coaching debut with the Junior National Team as a guest coach ... The Dominican Summer League Camp is an important step in the process as the JNT will attempt to qualify for the 2012 World Junior Baseball Championship (scheduled for Seoul, South Korea) at the Americas World Junior Qualification Tournament in Cartagena, Colombia from Sept-23-Oct. 2 ... For more information on the JNT program, click here.