Canada drops opening game of Americas Baseball Festival

By Adam Morissette
CARY, NC- The Canadian Men’s Baseball Team opened the Americas Baseball Qualifier Monday on the wrong end of a 9-3 score to the United States Pan American Games team.

The United States erased a 1-0 Canada lead by scoring four runs in the fourth, one in the sixth and added four more in the seventh. Canada received a pair of solo home runs from Kellin Deglan (Langley, BC) and Brock Kjeldgaard (London, Ont.) in the loss.

“We gave up four runs in two innings for a total of eight which is not good, but other than that I thought the guys played well,” said Canadian Manager Ernie Whitt.

The Americas Baseball Festival is being used as a tune-up for the Pan American Games that get underway on Saturday in Ajax, ON.

“For me, this week is about our team getting used to one another and coming together as a group,” added Whitt. “Players that have not been in international play before can get used to this type of environment.”

After Canada took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a Pete Orr (Newmarket, Ont.) RBI double that saw speedster Tyson Gillies (Vancouver, BC) score from first base, starting pitcher Shawn Hill (Georgetown, Ont.) proceeded to toss three hitless innings before giving up a single in the top of the fourth. After a one out single, fielder’s choice and a hit by pitch loaded the bases, Team USA’s Tom Murphy tripled to right-centre that cleared the bases to give the Americans the lead.

The US added another run in the fourth on an RBI single before Canadian catcher Kellin Deglan drilled a solo homer over the wall in the right to cut the deficit to two.

Kyle Lotzkar (Delta, BC) took over for Hill in the fifth and tossed a perfect frame before the US regained their three-run lead when a one out triple scored on single with one out in the sixth.

Kjeldgaard’s solo blast brought Canada back within two, but that was as close as they would come as the US scored four runs in the seventh highlighted by a three-run homer.

Scott Richmond (Vancouver, BC) was charged with four earned runs in the seventh, but he regrouped in the eighth and left a pair of US runners on base in a scoreless frame.

As Whitt emphasized, these exhibition contests are all about preparing for the Pan Am Games where his squad enters the event as the defending gold medalists.

“I’m observing and watching how we handle certain types of situations, adversity and other things,” he said. “If we can (as a staff) can spot anything (here) then hopefully we can make an adjustment to be ready for the Pan Am opener.”

Notes: Canada will play their second of three contests in the Americas Baseball Festival tomorrow in Cary, NC at Coleman Field on the grounds of USA Baseball’s National Training Centre when they take on the United States College National Team at 3pm ET … RHP Jared Mortensen (Abbottsford, BC), LHP Evan Rutckyj (Windsor, ON) and RHP Jasvir Rakkar (Brampton, ON) are expected to pitch for Canada … The game can be seen live at usabaseball.com.

Canada will open defence of the Pan American Games gold medal, won in 2011, on Saturday, July 11th at President’s Choice Ajax Pan Am Ball Park against the Dominican Republic. To view a full schedule and to purchase tickets, please click here.

Follow Team Canada:

Facebook
Instagram

Canada at USA
Jul 06, 2015 at Cary, N.C. (Coleman Field (NTC))
Canada 3 (0-1)
Player ab r h rbi bb so po a lob
Tyson Gillies cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 1
Pete Orr 3b 3 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0
 Jesse Hodges 3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Sean Jamieson ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 2
Jordan Lennerton 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 4 2 0
Tyler O’Neill lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 1
Rene Tosoni rf 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
Brock Kjeldgaard dh 3 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
Tim Smith dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Kellin Deglan c 2 1 1 1 0 0 4 0 0
 Chris Robinson c 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
Skyler Stromsmoe 2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
Shawn Hill p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0
 Kyle Lotzkar p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Scott Richmond p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 33 3 7 3 1 8 23 8 4

USA 9 (1-0)
Player ab r h rbi bb so po a lob
Travis Jankowski cf 5 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2
Andy Parrino ss 3 1 1 0 0 0 3 1 0
 Jeff Bianchi ss 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0
Brian Bogusevic dh 4 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
Patrick Kivlehan lf 4 2 3 3 0 0 1 0 0
Casey Kotchman 1b 4 1 1 1 0 0 10 1 0
Jacob Wilson 2b 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 4 0
Tommy Murphy c 2 1 1 3 0 1 4 0 1
 Eric Fryer c 2 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 1
Tyler Pastornicky 3b 4 0 2 1 0 0 1 2 0
Albert Almora rf 4 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0
Zach Eflin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Nate Smith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
 Josh Hader p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
 Scott McGregor p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 David Huff p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 36 9 12 9 0 4 27 13 5

Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Canada 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 3 7 1
USA 0 0 0 4 0 1 4 0 X 9 12 1
E - Stromsmoe, S; Parrino, A.. DP - USA 1. LOB - Canada 4; USA 5. 2B - Orr, P.; Bogusevic, B; Almora, A.. 3B - Kivlehan, P.; Murphy, T.. HR - Kjeldgaard B; Deglan, K.; Kivlehan, P.. HBP - Wilson, J.. CS - Tosoni, R..

Canada ip h r er bb so ab bf
Shawn Hill 3.2 4 4 4 0 3 16 17
Kyle Lotzkar 2.0 2 1 1 0 0 8 8
Scott Richmond 2.0 6 4 4 0 1 12 12

USA ip h r er bb so ab bf
Zach Eflin 2.0 2 1 1 0 2 8 8
Nate Smith 2.0 1 0 0 1 2 7 8
Josh Hader 2.0 2 1 1 0 2 8 8
Scott McGregor 2.0 2 1 1 0 2 7 7
David Huff 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
Win - Smith, N. (1-0). Loss - Hill, S. (0-1). Save - None.
HBP - by Hill, S. (Wilson, J.).
Start: 11:03 am Time: 2:03 Attendance: