Abram, Carinci lead juniors to win in Dominican tour finale
Right-hander Ben Abram (Georgetown, Ont.) allowed just two earned runs and struck out eight in six innings to help the Canadian Junior National Team to a 5-4 win over a DSL Pittsburgh Pirates team in their Dominican tour finale. Photo Credit: Baseball Canada
May 26, 2008
JNT DSL: Juniors end Dominican tour on a high
By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
EL TORO, Dominican Republic – Daniel Carinci (Ajax, Ont.) went 3-for-5 and drove in three runs to lead the Junior National Team to a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates Dominican prospects in the final contest of the Dominican Summer League tour.
Down 2-0 in the third, Carinci ripped a triple to left field that brought in Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) and Nicolas Tremblay (Mont St-Hilaire, Que.) before singling home Clarke as part of a two-run fifth.
The juniors also received a pair of impressive performances on the mound including starter Ben Abram (Georgetown, Ont.) who went six innings and fanned eight while allowing just two earned runs. Abram struck out all three batters he faced in the second inning and retired six in a row to finish his outing.
Viktor Bergeron (Terrebonne, Que.) took over on the mound for Abram in the seventh and was greeted by a solo home run on the first pitch he threw but settled in after that facing just 11 batters the rest of the way and striking out three of them.
The Junior National Team program will now focus its efforts on November’s 18U Pan American Championships that will take place in Panama City, Panama. The event will serve as a qualifier for the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation U-18 Baseball World Cup with the top four finishers in Panama City earning berths.