Sandlots: Grant, Hardie, DeSouza help Terriers, Carmen still giving
*Ryan Grant (Mississauga, Ont.) gave the Terriers a 5-4 win in the New Era Classic in Buffalo with a ground-rule double.
2011 Tryout camps sked (MLB, Brewers)
2011 Canadians in the June draft
Sandlots: Ryan Grant and Tyler Hardie helps Terriers 17U win in Buffalo ... Nathan DeSouza homers twice for Terriers 18U in Nashville ... Zach Pearson pitches Team Ontario to consolation 18U Premier title in Cincinnati ... Whitby wins in Michigan.
By Bob Elliott
Ryan Grant knows how to get a good bounce.
Grant one-hopped a fastball over the fence in the deepest part of the park at Canisius College scoring Tyler Hardie with the winning run as the Ontario Terriers 16s scored a 5-4 win over the OIBA Prospects 18U in the quarterfinal of the New Era Classic in Buffalo.
Hardie contributed a two-out, bases-loaded triple down the left field line in the second, scoring Hee Do Kim, Bruce Yari and Logan Stewart.
Yari pitched the win for coach John McEwan, scattering five hits and striking out six.
Team New Era 18U then eliminated the Terriers with a 9-4 win in the semifinal. Kyle Thalheimer, Jake Gerovac and Zach Choy had hits for the Terriers.
Pat Coughlin and Thalheimer helped propel the Terriers during the tourney. Coughlin was 7-for-18 (.388) with two doubles and a triple. Thalheimer hit .444 (8- for-18), scoring nine runs.
DeSouza goes deep: Nathan DeSouza homered twice and knocked in six runs as the 18U Terriers beat the Cincinnati Riverbats 8-5 in the Sandlott World Series in Nashville. DeSouza hit his first three-run homer to give the Terriers a 4-3 lead in the third.
In the final inning Cole Peragine worked a leadoff walk, was bunted to second and after a David Head walk Desouza’s hit a line drive three-run homer.
Zach attack: Right-hander Zach Pearson pitched a complete-game shut out as Team Ontario blanked Metro Detroit 10-0 to win the consolation title in the 26-team, 18U Premier Baseball of America championship in Cincinnati.
Brandon Collins gained the win as Team Ontario edged the Collierville Dragons of Memphis 13-11 in 11 innings as Jonathan Brouse delivered the two-run double.
In the first game of consolation play Team Ontario beat Indiana Nitro 10-1.
Team Ontario opened with three straight losses: 8-4 to Ohio Elite, 11-5 to the Arlington A’s and 4-2 to Midville Dodgers before beating Detroit 10-2 and losing 16-4 to the Lorrain County Pirates.
Carmen still giving: Pickering coach Michael Carman passed away May 6, 2009.
His request near the end of his 15-month battle with cancer was to ask friends, family and colleagues that in lieu of flowers, he’d like them to consider donating to either the Princess Margaret Hospital for cancer research and the Pickering Baseball Association.
Besides donations to the Princess Margaret, over $100,000 was raised to help minor ball. A new batting cage, clubhouse and storage facility was built at Kirkey Park.
Six of Carman’s former players, including his son Robert, and the rest of the Pickering Red Sox won the OBA junior eliminations last summer.
The coach may be gone, but he’s still giving to the new generation.
Terriers 17s win: Hunter Galloway hit a two-out, two-run single as the Ontario Terriers 17s beat the Syracuse Nationals 6-4 in the final of a five-team tournament in Rochester, N.Y. Galloway’s hit scored Travis Seabrooke and Nick Dimpfel, breaking a 3-3 tie.
Travis Laitar pitched a perfect seventh, sealing the win for coach Rick Johnston’s team against Syracuse, who had earlier beaten the Terriers 18s. T.J. Baker and Mike Morley each pitched three innings.
Cal Quantrill allowed one hit in five innings as the Terriers beat the Rockland Astros 8-0 in the semifinal. Aaron Loder, Dimpfel and Galloway had two hits apiece while Galloway had three RBIs.
Whitby winners: The Whitby Chiefs minor peewees ran the table going 6-0 at Battle Creek, Mich. Whitby scored three runs in the last at bat to beat West Michigan 7-5 in the final, as Jared Evans singled in the winning runs with two out in the sixth.
Michael Ireland picked up the win, pitching three innings in relief of starter Alex Jones.
Coach Clare Osborne’s Chiefs defeated Trenton, Mich., 14—1, in the semifinal.
Whitby defeated the Lansing Sliders 9-0 in the opener, beat the North York Blues 8-0, Traverse City East 8-0 and Grand Slam Baseball Academy from Indiana 14-1.
Two weeks earlier, Whitby lost 4-3 in the semifinals at Sylvania, Ohio, to Holmes County in the semifinal, after beating Holmes 8-5 in round-robin play.