Mortensen, Gillies, O'Neill power Canada to win over Columbia
CF Tyson Gillies (Vancouver, BC) hit a three-run homer to get Canada on the road in a 10-3 win over Columbia in support of RHP Jared Mortensen.
Canada uses long ball to thump Colombia
By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
AJAX, Ont. – The Canadian Men’s Baseball Team pounded out 13 hits including three home runs and received a solid pitching performance from starter Jared Mortensen (Abbottsford, BC) to beat Colombia 10-3.
The win moves Canada to 2-0 in the Pan American Games Men’s competition with a match-up against Nicaragua (0-1) on deck for Monday night.
“Our pitching and defense has been really good and we’ve come up with some really big hits when we’ve needed to,” said Canadian manager Ernie Whitt. “We’re feeling really good right now. We’ve got to continue to take it one game at a time.”
Canada got things going in the second when Rene Tosoni (Port Coquitlam, BC) doubled to right and Sean Jamieson (Kitchener, Ont.) singled to third base to put runners on the corners. Tyson Gillies (Vancouver, BC) then stepped to the plate with two out and slammed a three run homer over the wall in centrefield.
Canada added a pair of runs in the fifth as Jordan Lennerton (Langley, BC) doubled to right field to score both Pete Orr (Newmarket, Ont.) and Tim Smith (Toronto, Ont.). Lennerton attempted to stretch the double into a triple on the play but was thrown out at third base on a well-executed Colombian relay.
Mortensen, meanwhile was locked in from the get go as he retired 17 of the 18 hitters he faced before allowing a solo home run with two out in the top of the sixth.
Colombia would go on to add two more runs in the seventh, courtesy of a two-run homer, but Mortensen finished strong getting a groundout and a pair of fly outs to end the inning. In total, the right-hander gave up just four hits and struck out five, while not walking anybody.
With two out in the seventh and Lennerton standing on first base, Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) sent a ball deep over the left field wall for a two-run homer to put Canada up by six.
Evan Rutckyj (Windsor, Ont.) took over for Mortensen in the eighth and tossed a scoreless frame with two strikeouts, while Jasvir Rakkar (Brampton, Ont.) blanked Colombia in the ninth getting a double play and a strikeout to end the game. In between, Brock Kjeldgaard (London, Ont.) put the icing on the cake with a pinch-hit solo home run in the bottom of the eighth.
Up Next: Canada will move back to Field 1 at President’s Choice Ajax Pan Am Ball Park tomorrow when they face Nicaragua at 7pm ET … RHP Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que.) is scheduled to start … The best way to keep up with the action is by following @baseballcanada on Twitter … For tournament standings and stats, and to receive live game updates, please click here.
Score
Team 123 456 789 Total H E LOB
Colombia 000 001 200 -- 3 6 0 2
Canada 030 022 21x -- 10 13 0 7
Statistics
Canada
Name Position AB R H RBI BB SO PO A E
GILLIES Tyson CF 5 1 1 4 - 1 1 - -
ORR Peter 3B 4 1 1 1 - - - 3 -
SMITH Timothy DH 3 1 2 - 1 1 - - -
ROBINSON Christo.. DH 1 - - - - - - - -
LENNERTON Jordan, 1B 3 1 2 2 1 - 9 1 -
KJELDGAARD Brock, 1B 1 1 1 1 - - - - -
O’NEILL Tyler LF 5 1 1 2 - 1 3 - -
DEGLAN Kellin, C 4 - 1 - - 1 7 1 -
TOSONI Rene, RF 4 2 2 - - 1 2 - -
JAMIESON Sean, SS 3 2 2 - 1 - 3 1 -
STROMSMOE Skyler, 2B 2 - - - - - - 5 -
MORTENSEN Jared, P - - - - - - 1 - -
RUTCKYJ Evan, P - - - - - - - - -
RAKKAR Jasvir, P - - - - - - - - -
Totals 35 10 13 10 3 5 27 11 -
Statistics
Colombia
Name Position AB R H RBI BB SO PO A E
POLO Tito Luis, LF 4 1 1 1 - 1 1 - -
BATISTA Sneider, 2B 4 - - - - 2 - 3 -
RAMIREZ Harold A.. RF 4 1 2 - - 1 3 2 -
BROWN Steve Wendel, CF 4 1 1 2 - - - - -
ACUÑA Hector And.. 1B 4 - - - - 1 9 1 -
CASTRO Ismael, DH 3 - - - - 1 - - -
LUNA Ronald, SS 3 - 1 - - 1 2 - -
ARIZA Jorge Mario, C 2 - - - - - 5 1 -
AVILA Diover, C 1 - 1 - - - - - -
DE AGUAS Jayson, C ..- - - - - - - - -
LOZADA Jonathan, 3B .. 3 - - - - 1 2 4 -
CONSUEGRA Randy, P.. - - - - - - 1 - -
CORPAS Juan Carlos, P - - - - - - - - -
RUMION Harold Ye P..
RAMIREZ Ronald, P
MENDOZA Cristian, P .. - - - - - - 1 - -
Totals 32 3 6 3 - 8 24 11 -
Pitching Statistics
Canada
Name Position W/L/S IP Hits (H) R ER BB SO HR WP BK
MORTENSEN Jared W(1,0,0) 7.0 4 3 3 - 5 2 - -
RUTCKYJ Evan 1.0 1 - - - 2 - - -
RAKKAR Jasvir 1.0 1 - - - 1 - - -
Totals 9.0 6 3 3 - 8 2 - -
Pitching Statistics
Colombia
CONSUEGRA Randy .. L(0,1,0) 5.0 7 5 5 1 3 1 - -
CORPAS Juan Carlos 0.1 2 2 2 1 - - - -
RUMION Harold Ye.. 0.2 2 2 2 1 1 1 - -
RAMIREZ Ronald 1.0 1 - - - 1 - - -
MENDOZA Cristian 1.0 1 1 1 - - 1 - -
Totals 8.0 13 10 10 3 5 3 - -