Nov. 28, 2018

U18 World Qualifier: Abram, Carinci, Smith carry Canada over Nicaragua

By Adam Morrissette

Baseball Canada

CHITRÉ, Panama – LaRon Smith (Spruce Grove, Alta.) belted a three-run homer in the first inning and drove in five runs while Ben Abram (Georgetown, Ont.) shut the door on the mound for six innings to lead Canada to a 14-1 win over Nicaragua as Super Round play opened at the COPABE U18 Pan Am Championships.

The win gives Canada a Super Round record of 2-0 after carrying over a victory against Venezuela in the opening round. Canada will face the United States tomorrow before taking on host Panama on Friday and Dominican Republic on Saturday with gold and bronze medal games slated for Sunday.

Canada opened the floodgates with a six-run third inning highlighted by a Daniel Carinci (Ajax, Ont.) two-run triple as he went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and three RBI to help pace the Canadian offence.

Smith and Carinci were at it again in the fifth with Smith collecting two RBI on a double to left while Carinci chipped in with his second double of the game to bring in another run.

On the mound, Abram was in complete control over six solid innings of work scattering three hits and fanning one batter while throwing just 59 pitches. Nicaragua’s lone run came in the fourth on a throwing error and was not charged to Abram.

Olivier Morin-Larocque (Québec, Que.) took the mound for the seventh and worked a perfect frame including two strikeouts.

UP NEXT: Canada will continue Super Round play tomorrow against the United States at Rico Cedeño Stadium in Chitré with the first pitch set for 2PM ET ... LHP Connor O’Halloran (Mississauga, Ont.) is scheduled to get the start on the mound.

Nicaragua U18 1

Baseball Canada-2018 Junior National Team 18U 14

123 456 7 R H E

NCRG 000 100 0 -- 1 3 4

JNT 306 203 X -- 14 12 4

BATTING

Nicaragua

U18 AB R H RBI BB SO LOB

Hansack (CF 3 0 0 0 0 0 1

Aguilar (RF, P 3 0 0 0 0 0 2

Bone (C 3 0 1 0 0 0 0

Perez (3B 3 0 0 0 0 0 1

Castillo (1B 3 1 1 0 0 0 1

Bravo (LF 3 0 1 0 0 0 1

Arias (DH 2 0 0 0 0 0 2

Ramirez (RF 1 0 0 0 0 1 3

Arana (2B 3 0 0 0 0 1 3

Lopez (SS 3 0 0 0 0 1 1

Totals 27 1 3 0 0 3 5

2018 Canadian Junior National Team (18U)

AB R H RBI BB SO LOB

D Carinci (SS 4 3 3 3 0 0 2

B Naylor (C 5 0 1 0 0 0 4

O Diodati (DH 3 1 0 0 2 2 1

L Smith (2B 5 2 3 5 0 1 0

T Schofield… 2 1 1 0 1 0 1

C Valero (1B 4 2 1 1 1 1 5

B Buckle (LF 3 2 2 1 1 1 1

D Clarke (CF 2 2 0 1 0 0 1

D Brown (RF 4 1 1 2 0 1 2

Totals 32 14 12 13 5 6 10

2B: Castillo, TB: Bravo, Castillo 2, Bone, LOB: 5

2B: L Smith, D Carinci 2, C Valero, 3B: D Carinci, HR: L Smith, TB: B Naylor, B Buckle 2, L Smith 7, D Carinci 7, C Valero 2, D Brown, T Schofield-Sam, HBP: D Clarke 2, D Carinci, T Schofield-Sam 2, LOB: 10

PITCHING

Nicaragua U18 IP H R ER BB SO HR

Lopez 2.2 6 9 8 3 1 1

Cruz 2.1 3 2 2 0 4 0

Aguilar 1.0 3 3 3 2 1 0

Totals 6.0 12 14 13 5 6 1

2018 Canadian Junior National Team (18U)

IP H R ER BB SO HR

B Abram 6.0 3 1 0 0 1 0

O Morin-Lar… 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0

Totals 7.0 3 1 0 0 3 0

LP: Lopez, P-S: Aguilar 37-21, Lopez 58-30, Cruz 53-32, WP: Cruz, HBP: Aguilar, Lopez 2, Cruz 2, BF: Aguilar 9, Lopez 20, Cruz 13

WP: B Abram, P-S: O Morin-Larocque 15-8, B Abram 59-45, BF: O Morin-Larocque 3, B Abram 24