Leroux dominates, O'Neill, Kjeldgaard, Gillies go deep to cinch 1st
RHP Chris Leroux (Mississauga, Ont.) looked pretty impressive -- one run in six innings for his second win -- as Canada wrapped up top spot.
July 16, 2015
Canada powers past Puerto Rico to clinch top spot
By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
AJAX, Ont. – Canada pounded out 15 hits including home runs from Brock Kjeldgaard (London, Ont.), Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) and Tyson Gillies (Vancouver, BC), and received six solid innings on the mound from starter Chris Leroux (Mississauga, Ont.) en route to an 11-4 win over Puerto Rico.
Kjeldgaard and Gillies paced Canada’s offence with a combined seven hits and six runs driven in, while right fielder Rene Tosoni (Port Coquitlam, BC) and O’Neill had two hits apiece.
The win kept Canada’s unbeaten record (5-0) alive and clinched first place in the round robin standings. Canada will play its final round robin game Friday against the United States before facing the fourth place seed in Saturday’s second semi-final game (7pm ET) at President’s Choice Ajax Pan Am Ball Park.
Canada has relied on solid pitching and sound defence throughout the tournament and have received some timely hitting in the process. This offensive outburst is something Canadian manager Ernie Whitt hopes will continue.
“We expected that we were going to pitch and play defence and manufacture some runs (in the tournament),” he said. “We have scored a lot of runs and hopefully it will continue through the weekend.”
The defending Pan Am Games gold medalists from 2011 got things going early scoring a pair of runs in the top of the first on RBI singles from Tosoni and Kjeldgaard.
Kjeldgaard was just getting started as he stepped to the plate in the third with two runners on and socked a home run over the wall in right-centre. The home run came on the heels of two walks given up by Puerto Rican starter, Luis Ramos, with two out in the inning.
Kjeldgaard’s homer was a sign of things to come as two innings later, O’Neill clubbed his third home run of the tournament and second in as many games to put Canada in front by five and Gillies followed in the seventh with a solo shot that cleared the wall in right field.
Canadian starter Leroux was solid during his second start of the tournament working six innings where his only blemish came in the fourth on a one out solo home run.
The right-hander had seven strikeouts on the evening, scattered three hits and walked two in picking up his second win.
In the seventh, Evan Rutckyj (Windsor, Ont.) came out of the bullpen and struck out one batter in a scoreless inning of relief before Canada added a pair of runs in the eighth to go up by ten.
The 10-run cushion gave Canada a chance to end the game via the mercy rule, but a three-run homer off reliever Kyle Lotzkar (Delta, BC) ensured the game would go a full nine innings where Jasvir Rakkar (Brampton, Ont.) held Puerto Rico off the scoreboard to end the game.
Up Next: Canada will their final round robin game tomorrow against the United States (7pm ET) at President’s Choice Ajax Pan Am Ball Park … RHP Jared Mortensen (Abbottsford, BC) is expected to start on the mound for Canada … 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
Canada 11, Puerto Rico 4
Team 123 456 789 R H E LOB
Canada 203 021 120 -- 11 15 0 9
Puerto Rico 000 100 030 -- 4 8 3 7
Puerto Rico
Name Position AB R H RBI BB SO PO A E
THON Richard, 2B 4 1 1 - - 2 - 3 -
PONCE Hector
Centre-Fielder 5 - - - - 2 1 - -
DOMINGUEZ Jeffry, 3B 4 2 3 1 - - - 2 -
GARCIA Anthony, RF 4 1 1 3 - - 5 1 -
BAEZ Edgardo, LF 3 - 1 - 1 - 3 - -
FELICIANO Joiset, DH 3 - - - 1 - - - -
PENA Roberto, C 2 - - - - 2 4 3 -
CRUZ Yomar, C 2 - 1 - - 1 3 - 1
ROBLES Gabriel, SS 3 - - - 1 1 3 2 1
GONZALEZ Richard, 1B 4 - 1 - - 1 8 - 1
RAMOS Luis, P - - - - - - - - -
GEIGER Roy, P - - - - - - - 1 -
SOLER Jose, P - - - - - - - - -
Totals 34 4 8 4 3 9 27 12 3
Statistics
Canada
Name Position AB R H RBI BB SO PO A E
JAMIESON Sean, SS 5 - 1 - 1 - 2 3 -
ORR Peter, 3B 5 - - 1 - 1 - 2 -
O’NEILL Tyler, LF 4 3 2 1 1 2 2 - -
LENNERTON Jordan, 1B 2 3 1 - 2 - 6 - -
TOSONI Rene, RF 4 1 2 2 1 1 3 - -
KJELDGAARD Brock, DH 4 2 4 4 - - - - -
SMITH Timothy, DH 1 - - - - - - - -
DEGLAN Kellin, C 5 - 1 - - 2 9 - -
GILLIES Tyson, CF 5 1 3 2 - - 5 - -
STROMSMOE Skyler, 2B 3 1 1 - 1 - - 2 -
LEROUX Christopher, P - - - - - - - - -
RUTCKYJ Evan, P - - - - - - - - -
LOTZKAR Kyle, P - - - - - - - - -
RAKKAR Jasvir, P - - - - - - - - -
Totals 38 11 15 10 6 6 27 7 -
Pitching Statistics
Puerto Rico
Name Position W/L/S IP Hits (H) R ER BB SO HR WP BK
RAMOS Luis L(0,1,0) 3.0 3 5 5 3 4 1 - -
GEIGER Roy 2.0 5 2 2 1 1 1 - -
SOLER Jose 4.0 7 4 2 2 1 1 - -
Totals 9.0 15 11 9 6 6 3 - -
Pitching Statistics
Canada
Name Position W/L/S IP Hits (H) R ER BB SO HR WP BK
LEROUX Christopher W(2,0,0) 6.0 3 1 1 2 7 1 - -
RUTCKYJ Evan 1.0 - - - 1 1 - - -
LOTZKAR Kyle 1.0 2 3 3 - 1 1 - -
RAKKAR Jasvir 1.0 3 - - - - - - -
Totals 9.0 8 4 4 3 9 2
Standings
Country P W-L RF RA W/L% GB
1 Canada 5 5-0 37 11 1.000 - -
2 Cuba 6 4-2 41 23 .677 1 1/2
3 Puerto Rico 5 3-2 35 41 .600 2
3 United States 5 3-2 29 21 .600 2
5 Dominican Republic 5 2-3 26 34 .400 3
6 Nicaragua 5 1-4 19 38 .200 4
7 Colombia 5 0-5 21 40 .000 5