It's Yerzy's world: four more hits vs. Tigers

JNT Extended Spring: Tigers outlast juniors

 

April 22nd, 2016


By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The Detroit Tigers prospects scored four runs in the top of the eighth and held off a late rally by the Junior National Team to come away with an 8-6 victory earlier Friday. Andrew Yerzy (Toronto, Ont.) enjoyed a 4-for-4 day at the plate and drove in three runs as his strong extended spring trip continues.

GAME INFORMATION
Event: Extended Spring Training
Score: Detroit Tigers 8 Canada (U18) 6
Location: ESPN Wide World of Sports – Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Canada U18 Starting Lineup:
1. Cooper Davis – DH
2. Adam Hall – SS
3. Noah Naylor – 3B
4. Andrew Yerzy – C
5. Clayton Keyes – EH
6. Brad Aldred – 1B
7. Jason Willow – 2B
8. Tyler Duncan – RF
9. Carter Loewen – EH
10. Isaac Deveaux – LF
11. Soren Graversen – EH

Starting Pitcher: RHP Josh Burgmann

HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first after a pair of doubles surrendered by JNT starter Josh Burgmann (Nanaimo, BC).

- It didn’t take long for the juniors to answer back as the red-hot Adam Hall (London, Ont.) tripled with one out in the bottom of the first before scoring on an Andrew Yerzy single for his first of three RBI on the day.

- Burgmann gave up a leadoff triple in the second and almost got out of the inning unscathed, but a two out double put the Tigers in front by one.

- With two out in the top of the fifth, a single and double given up by reliever Mathieu Deneault-Gauthier (Candiac, Que.) put the Tigers up by two before the juniors tied the score with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning.

-Jason Willow (Victoria, BC) led off with a walk and moved to third on a Tyler Duncan (Sooke, BC) double. Willow then scored on a wild pitch before Duncan crossed home plate on an Isaac Deveaux (Montréal, Que.) RBI single.

- A solo home run surrendered by Sam Turcotte (Toronto, Ont.) put the Tigers back in front by one in the seventh but the juniors tied it up as Jason Willow walked and moved to third on an error before scoring on a Carter Loewen (Abbotsford, BC) sacrifice fly.

- Errors haunted the juniors in the eighth as the Tigers broke things open with four runs to go up by four. A lead off walk moved to third on an error and scored on a RBI single before two more singles and an error brought in three more runs.

- In the bottom of the inning, the juniors loaded the bases on base hits from Soren Graversen (Calgary, Alta.) and Hall, while Cooper Davis (Mississauga, Ont.) walked that set the stage for Yerzy who came up with a one out single that scored Graversen and Davis

JNT HIGHLIGHTS
- Yerzy’s 4-for-4 performance paced the offence, while Hall had yet another solid day at the plate as he went 2-for-4 with a triple and a run scored, while Isaac Deveaux went 2-for-3 with one RBI.

- The juniors matched the Tigers in the hit department as both teams had a dozen with seven different players on the Junior National Team having collected at least one hit.

- Relievers Deneault-Gauthier and Turcotte were tagged for just one earned run each. Deneault-Gauthier worked three innings and struck out two batters, while Turcotte worked two and two-third innings and registered a pair of strikeouts.

TEAM LEADERS
Hits: 4, Yerzy (4/4); 2, Hall (2/4), Deveaux (2/3); 1, Keyes (1/4), Aldred (1/4), Duncan (1/4), Graversen (1/2)
Runs: 2, Willow; 1, Davis, Hall, Duncan, Graversen
Triples: 1, Hall
RBI: 3, Yerzy; 1, Loewen, Deveaux
Strikeouts: 3, Burgmann; 2, Deneault-Gauthier, Turcotte

UP NEXT
The juniors will play their final extended spring training game tomorrow at 10am ET against a prospects squad from the Washington Nationals organization … LHP Wesley Moore (Surrey, BC) is scheduled to start on the mound.