Nov. 27th, 2018

U18 World Qualifier: Canada falls to Cuba on eve of Super Round

By Adam Morissette

Baseball Canada

CHITRÉ, Panama – After already earning top spot in Group B and a berth in the COPABE U18 Pan Am Championships “Super Round”, the Canadian Junior National Team closed out the opening round with a 4-0 loss to Cuba.

Canada will carry a record of 1-0 into Super Round play by virtue of a defeat of Group B second place finisher Venezuela earlier in the tournament. The Super Round gets underway on Wednesday with Canada facing Nicaragua (0-1) to be followed by USA (1-0), Panama (1-0) and the Dominican Republic (0-1).

A two-run fifth inning proved to be the difference as the Cubans played some small ball using a sacrifice bunt to move a runner into scoring position before getting an RBI single and sac fly.

Canada starting pitcher Keegan Pulford-Thorpe (Newmarket, Ont.) blanked the Cubans for four innings working his way out of one-out bases loaded jam in the first via a double play and ended up toeing the rubber for five innings and registering five strikeouts.

Canada’s bats were silent throughout the game mustering just two hits, a Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) single in the second inning while Cesar Valero (Calgary, Alta.) dropped a base hit into left field in the seventh.

Cuba added a pair of insurance runs in the home half of the seventh with one run coming on a Tate Dearing (White Rock, BC) wild pitch while another scored with two out on a Valero throwing error.

UP NEXT: Canada will open Super Round play on Wednesday against Nicaragua at Rico Cedeño Stadium in Chitré with the first pitch set for 2 p.m. ET … RHP Ben Abram (Georgetown, Ont.) is scheduled to get the start on the mound.

Baseball Canada Junior National Team 0

Cuba U18 4

123 456 789 R H E

JNT 000 000 000 -- 0 2 3

CUB 000 020 20X -- 4 4 0

BATTING

2018 Canadian Junior National Team (18U)

AB R H RBI BB SO LOB

D Carinci (2B 3 0 0 0 0 0 0

B Naylor (3B 3 0 0 0 1 0 1

O Diodati (DH 3 0 0 0 1 0 0

C Valero (SS 4 0 1 0 0 2 0

T Schofield… 4 0 0 0 0 0 3

D Clarke (CF 3 0 1 0 0 1 1

B Buckle (LF 3 0 0 0 0 2 0

R Pelletier (C 3 0 0 0 0 1 0

D Brown (RF 2 0 0 0 0 1 0

Totals 28 0 2 0 2 7 5

Cuba U18 AB R H RBI BB SO LOB

Sobroda (LF 4 2 2 1 0 1 1

Chapelle (2B 2 0 1 1 1 0 0

Ferrer (C 3 0 0 0 1 0 0

Garcia (DH 4 0 1 0 0 1 2

Noguera (1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 3

Peregrin (CF 2 0 0 0 2 1 0

Castro (RF 3 0 0 0 0 2 0

Pedroso (3B 2 2 0 0 2 1 2

Molina (SS 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

Totals 25 4 4 2 6 7 6

TB: C Valero, D Clarke, SAC: D Carinci, HBP: D Brown, LOB: 5.

TB: Sobroda 2, Garcia, Chapelle, SAC: Molina 2, SF: Chapelle, CS: Chapelle, HBP: Castro, SB: Peregrin, LOB: 6

PITCHING

2018 Canadian Junior National Team (18U)

IP H R ER BB SO HR

K Pulford-T… 5.0 3 2 2 3 5 0

J Griffin 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0

T Dearing 1.0 1 2 1 2 0 0

T McWillie 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0

Totals 8.0 4 4 3 6 7 0

Cuba U18 IP H R ER BB SO HR

Pena 8.1 2 0 0 2 6 0

Vera 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0

Totals 9.0 2 0 0 2 7 0

LP: K Pulford-Thorpe, P-S: J Griffin 9-8, T Dearing 22-10, T McWillie 15-8, K Pulford-Thorpe 85-54, WP: T Dearing 2, K Pulford-Thorpe 2, HBP: T McWillie, BF: J Griffin 3, T Dearing 6, T McWillie 4, K Pulford-Thorpe 22

WP: Pena, P-S: Vera 5-5, Pena 105-68, HBP: Pena, BF: Vera 2, Pena 30.