Baseball Canada Cup: Day one in the books!

By: Adam Morissette

Canadian Baseball Network

OTTAWA-The Baseball Canada Cup got underway today in Fort McMurray, Alberta with eight games taking place at two venues including Shell Place on MacDonald Island and Ross Hennigar Park.

PEI 9 New Brunswick 6

This one needed extras and it was the visitors, PEI, who put up four runs in the top of the eighth and held off a late charge in the bottom half from New Brunswick as the Islanders came away with a 9-6 win. Brandon Condon (Kensington, PE) tossed five innings in relief and gave up just one earned runs, while Brett Platts (Albany, PE) rounded the bases for a three run homer in the seventh, and Gabriel Penalver (Sherwood, PE) went 4-for-5 and drove in a pair. New Brunswick’s Adam Estey (Fredericton, NB) had four hits and three RBI, while Greg Mitchell (Calais, NB) was solid over five innings of work on the mound.

Newfoundland & Labrador 6 Nova Scotia 3

Newfoundland & Labrador picked up their first of two wins on the day in a morning contest as they doubled up on Nova Scotia, 6-3. Daniel Rice’s (St. John’s, NL) inside the park homer brought in three runs as part of a five run sixth inning as Newfoundland erased a two run deficit. Dylan MacKenzie (St. John’s, NL) tossed 2.1 scoreless innings of relief to pick up the win. Nova Scotia’s Garrett Nicholson (Sydney Mines, NS) had three strikeouts over two scoreless innings of work.

Ontario 6 Alberta 4

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Ontario struck for six runs and held off a late Alberta charge to come away with a 6-4 win. Five hits including a two run single off the bat of Jacob Martins (Richmond Hill, ON) and two errors led to the six runs. Four Ontario pitchers limited Alberta to just three hits including Cameron Dyck (Oakville, ON) who had five strikeouts, while Lucas Wepf (Georgetown, ON) had six.

Saskatchewan 8 BC 0

Connor Sparks (Saskatoon, SK) fired five and a third shutout innings with five strikeouts and Brody Frerichs (Muenster, SK) keyed an eight run fifth innings with a grand slam as Saskatchewan upset defending champ BC, 8-0. Sparks and reliever Logan Hofmann (Muenster, SK) gave up just one hit each to keep the BC hitters quiet. Ryan Gaab (Weyburn, SK) had a two run double in the eight run fifth for the victors.

Newfoundland & Labrador 3 Québec 1

Newfoundland & Labrador had just three hits but made them count, and rode Andrew Janes (St. John’s, NL) who went five and two-thirds strong innings on the mound to come away with a 3-1 win over Québec. With the game knotted at one, Cole Tucker’s (Mount Pearl, NL) one out RBI single gave Newfoundland the go ahead run and they went on to add another on a bases loaded walk in the fifth. Edouard Julien (Québec, QC) had a pair of hits and an RBI in the loss for Québec.

Nova Scotia 6 Manitoba 1

Nova Scotia put one in the win column using thirteen hits to hand Manitoba a 6-1 loss. Four Nova Scotians had multi-hit games including Jake MacKinnon (Mineville, NS) who had three, while Chris Ritchie (Dartmouth, NS) drove in three. Nova Scotia starter Jaden Griffin (Lower Sackville, NC) worked five and two-third innings and gave up just one run on one hit and one walk, while fanning five Manitoba batters.

Alberta 2 Saskatchewan 0

Ben Erwin (Spruce Grove, AB) fired six shutout innings allowing just two hits and two walks with three strikeouts, while David Richards (Edmonton, AB) came on for the save as the hosts blanked Saskatchewan, 2-0. Soren Graversen (Calgary, AB) had a sac fly in the first inning before LaRon Smith (Spruce Grove, AB) cashed in a run with an RBI double in the third.

BC 7 Ontario 0

Fynn Chester (Victoria, BC) tossed a four-hit, complete game shutout as BC used 12 hits including a home run from Steven Moretto (Burnaby, BC) to shutout Ontario, 7-0. Rhys Cratty (Langley, BC) and Damiano Palmegiani (Cloverdale, BC) collected three hits each to pace the BC attack, while Dylan Ohlsen (Chilliwack, BC) went 2-for-2 with an RBI.

Up Next: Action continues at the Baseball Canada Cup tomorrow with seven games on the schedule, while the 21U Women Invitational begins in Halifax, Nova Scotia…Stay up-to-date on all of the action, including stats, standings, rosters, schedules and live scoring, via the links below.

Websites

Baseball Canada Cup
21U Women Invitational
21U Women Invitational live streaming (Mainland Field only)

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