SNT: Canada concludes play in Arizona with draw

Nov. 2 2015

By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
PHOENIX, Az. - Pitching a defence was the name of the game again today as both Canada and the United States played to a 3-3 tie on the eve of both teams departing for Taiwan tomorrow as preparations for the WBSC Premier 12 continue.

Prior to the game it was decided that the ninth inning would be used to practice the international tie-break rule, but the game need extras anyway as the score was knotted at one after eight before the teams traded a pair of runs each in the ninth to end in a tie.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: USA 3 Canada 3
Location: Hank Aaron Field at Maryvale Baseball Complex – Phoenix, Az.
Weather: 28C, clear

Canada Starting Lineup:
1. Gillies CF
2. Orr 3B
3. O’Neill LF
4. Lennerton 1B
5. Kjeldgaard RF
6. Green DH
7. Jamieson SS
8. Deglan C
9. Atkinson DH
10. Stromsmoe 2B

Starting Pitcher: LHP Andrew Albers

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Canada opened the scoring in the home half of the first inning as Jordan Lennerton’s (Langley, BC) single to right scored Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) from second. Lennerton’s single came with two out and after O’Neill had singled before him.

- Canada’s one run lead lasted until the eighth when a single with two out and a runner on third plated the tying run.

- In the ninth with runners on first and second, in accordance with international tie-break rules, a stolen base put runners on the corners before one run scored on a double play, while the other US run came in on an RBI double.

- Skyler Stromsmoe (Etzikom, Alta.) put down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners in the bottom of the ninth only to see a wild pitch ensue that scored Sean Jamieson (Kitchener, Ont.), and Rene Tosoni (Port Coquitlam, BC) followed with an RBI groundout to the right side that scored Justin Atkinson (Surrey, BC) with the tying run.

CANADA HIGHLIGHTS
- Canada once again received some solid performances on the mound beginning with starter Andrew Albers (North Battleford, Sask.) who fired three scoreless innings, scattering two hits and striking out three.

- Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que.) picked up where Albers left off as he tossed two scoreless innings with one strikeout before Scott Richmond (Vancouver, BC) and Kyle Lotzkar (Delta, BC) tossed a scoreless inning each. Richmond had one strikeout.

TEAM LEADERS
Hits: 1, O’Neill (1/4), Lennerton (1/2), Jamieson (1/3)
Runs: 1, O’Neill, Jamieson, Atkinson
RBIs: 1, Lennerton, Tosoni
Stolen Bases: 1, O’Neill
Strikeouts: 3, Albers; 2, Aumont; 1, Richmond,

THEY SAID IT
Manager Ernie Whitt’s impressions of today’s game: “I thought we swung the bats better today, we had some solid contact. The main thing here (in Phoenix) is we got our work in as we gradually build our way toward this tournament. Again, I think some of our hitters had better at bats today”

Whitt when asked if pitching and defence is his team’s strength: “It has to be. Like we saw in the Pan Am Games our pitching was great, our defence was outstanding. We just can’t afford to give extra outs during the course of a ballgame so (pitching and defence) is going to play a big part for us.”

UP NEXT
Team Canada will depart for Taiwan tomorrow and play the first of two exhibition contests on Nov. 6 (6:30pm CST/5:30am ET) against Mexico … Canada will play Venezuela in a tune-up game on Nov. 7 (6:30pm CST/5:30am ET) before opening their Premier 12 schedule Nov. 10 against Cuba (6:30pm CST/5:30am ET) at Intercontinental Stadium in Taichung.

Nov 02, 2015
Phoenix, AZ (Maryvale Baseball Park)
Team USA 3 (1-0-2)
Player ab r h rbi bb so po a lob
Jacob May cf 5 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
 Brett Phillips cf 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 2
Joe Sclafani 2b 4 0 2 2 1 0 0 1 1
Tyler Pastornicky dh 5 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
Dan Black 1b 2 0 1 0 0 1 5 0 0
 Kyle Martin 1b 2 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 0
Brett Eibner rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0
Matt McBride lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0
Dan Rohlfing c 2 0 1 0 0 0 6 2 1
 Parker Morin c 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0
Adam Frazier ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 2
Elliot Soto 3b 3 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
Brooks Pounders p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Zeke Spruill p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Cody Forsythe p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Joey Denato p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
 JB Wendelken p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
 Casey Coleman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals 33 3 8 3 3 5 27 10 9

Canada 3 (0-1-2)
Player ab r h rbi bb so po a lob
Tyson Gillies cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
 Gareth Morgan cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Rene Tosoni cf 3 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0
Pete Orr 3b 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 0
Tyler O’Neill lf 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 1
Jordan Lennerton 1b 2 0 1 1 1 1 7 1 0
Brock Kjeldgaard rf 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 2
Taylor Green dh 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Sean Jamieson ss 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 3 1
Kellin Deglan c 2 0 0 0 0 1 5 1 0
Justin Atkinson dh 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Skyler Stromsmoe 2b 2 0 0 0 0 2 3 1 0
 Dustin Houle 2b 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Andrew Albers p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Phillippe Aumont p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Scott Richmond p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Kyle Lotzkar p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Dustin Molleken p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 27 3 3 2 2 9 26 10 4

Score by Innings
         123 456 789         R H E
Team USA 000 000 012   --    3 8 0
Canada   100 000 002   --    3 3 1

E - O’Neill. DP - Canada 1. LOB - USA P12 9; Canada 4. 2B - Sclafani. HBP - Morgan; Kjeldgaard. SH - Stromsmoe. SB - Soto; O’Neill. CS - Sclafani; Morgan.

Team USA ip h r er bb so ab bf np
Brooks Pounders 2.0 3 1 1 0 1 7 8 45
Zeke Spruill 3.0 0 0 0 1 2 9 10 43
Cody Forsythe 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 16
Joey Denato 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 3 3 11
JB Wendelken 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 3 4 16
Casey Coleman 1.0 0 2 0 1 1 2 4 12

Canada ip h r er bb so ab bf np
Andrew Albers 3.0 2 0 0 0 3 11 11 44
Phillippe Aumont 2.0 2 0 0 0 1 8 8 26
Scott Richmond 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 2 3 18
Kyle Lotzkar 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 4 5 16
Dustin Molleken 1.2 3 3 0 1 0 8 9 29
Win - None. Loss - None. Save - None.
WP - Coleman. HBP - by Pounders (Morgan); by Wendelken (Kjeldgaard). Pitches/strikes: Pounders 45/26; Spruill 43/27; Forsythe 16/12; Denato 11/8; Wendelken 16/12; Coleman 12/7; Albers 44/31; Aumont 26/16; Richmond 18/8; Lotzkar 16/10; Molleken 29/20.
Start: 1:00 pm Time: 2:31