Dominican Summer League: Juniors edge Twins in DSL opener

May 19th, 2016
By Adam Morissette
BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic – The Junior National Team held their traditional Dominican Summer League opener against the Minnesota Twins this afternoon and came away with a 3-2 win on the strength of a pair of solid pitching performances from veterans Josh Burgmann (Nanaimo, BC) and Mathieu Deneault-Gauthier (Candiac, QC).

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Canada (18U) 3 DSL Twins 2
Location: Minnesota Twins Dominican Complex – Boca Chica, DR
Weather: 30 degrees Celsius, A few clouds

Canada 18U Starting Lineup:
1. Cooper Davis - CF
2. Dondrae Bremner - DH
3. Adam Hall - SS
4. Andrew Yerzy – C
5. Clayton Keyes - LF
6. Noah Naylor – DH
7. Steven Moretto – 3B
8. Luke Van Rycheghem – DH
9. Jason Willow – 2B
10. Soren Graversen – 1B
11. Tyler Duncan - RF

Starting Pitcher: RHP Josh Burgmann

HOW IT HAPPENED
- The juniors opened the scoring in the fourth when Andrew Yerzy’s (Toronto, Ont.) single to right cashed in Dondrae Bremner (Toronto, Ont.) from third base. Bremner had led off with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch before Adam Hall (London, Ont.) grounded out to second to move Bremner to third.

- The Twins got the run back in the home half of the inning as a single and walk put runners on second and third before a throwing error allowed a run to score while putting runners on first and third with just one out. JNT starter Burgmann got out of the jam with a strikeout and groundout to end the inning.

- In the fifth, Soren Graversen (Calgary, Alta.) laced a double that got to the wall in right and scored when Tyler Duncan (Sooke, BC) lined an opposite field double to left.

- The juniors kept thing going in the sixth as Hall led off with a double and scored two batters later when Noah Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) laced a single over the second baseman’s head into right field.

- The Twins got one run back in the seventh as they used a single and stolen base, that saw the runner move to third when the ball sailed into centerfield, before a sacrifice fly to centre brought the runner home.

JNT HIGHLIGHTS
- Burgmann and Deneault-Gauthier kept Twins hitters off-balance for most of the afternoon as each were efficient in the strike zone. They both managed six strikeouts and neither gave up an earned run. Burgmann scattered three hits and walked one, while Deneault-Gauthier allowed just two hits.

- Burgmann faced little adversity and when he did was able to get out of it as he left two runners stranded in the fourth and faced 19 batters over five innings of work.

- Deneault-Gauthier was perfect in three of his four innings of work including the eighth where he struck out the side and in the ninth where he fanned a pair.

- The juniors had just six hits on the afternoon but made the most of them as Yerzy, Naylor and Duncan had RBI singles.

- He didn’t register a hit, but 3B Steven Moretto (Burnaby, BC) reached on all three of his plate appearances (E6, BB, BB) while celebrating his 17th birthday. 

TEAM LEADERS
Hits: 1, Hall (1/4), Yerzy (1/4), Keyes (1/1), Naylor (1/2), Graversen (1/1), Duncan (1/3)
Runs: 1, Bremner, Hall, Graversen
Doubles: 1, Hall, Graversen, Duncan
RBIs: 1, Yerzy, Duncan, Naylor
Stolen Bases: 1, Naylor, Bremner
Strikeouts: 6, Burgmann, Deneault-Gauthier

UP NEXT
The juniors will play a doubleheader Friday beginning at 10:30am ET when they take on the DSL Brewers in san Pedro de Macoris followed by a 2:30pm game against the DSL Blue Jays in Boca Chica ... Jordan Balazovic (Mississauga, Ont.) gets the start in game one, while William Sierra (Montréal, Que.) will start game two…You can get live updates by following @Team_C_Updates on Twitter.