May 19, 2018

JNT DSL: Yankees power past juniors in doubleheader sweep

By Adam Morissette

Baseball Canada

BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic – The New York Yankees Dominican Summer League squad hit three home runs including two in a six-run first to earn an 11-3 win over the Junior National Team and hand the Canadian squad their second loss on the day.

Earlier, an unearned run in the first gave the Chicago Cubs Dominican prospects a 1-0 lead and it held up as rain halted the game in the bottom of the fifth before it was eventually declared a final.

BOX SCORE: DSL CUBS 1 JNT 0

SCORING

-The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first using a lead off walk and a stolen base to get a runner into scoring position. With two out, a ground ball got by first baseman Damiano Palmegiani (Surrey, BC) that went for an error allowing the runner to score.

QUICK HITS

-Eric Cerantola (Oakville, Ont.) threw the bottom of the first but was forced to exit prior to the start of the second due to a blister on his finger. 

-Tate Dearing (White Rock, B.C.) took over for Cerantola and worked 2 2/3 innings before the rain hit causing the umpires to send both teams off the field. Dearing didn’t allow a hit, walked two and struck out five in facing ten batters.

-The juniors didn’t record a hit but walked three times in the fourth before the inning was ended due to a pitch count.

BOX SCORE: DSL YANKEES 11 JNT 3

SCORING

-The Yankees made their presence felt in a big way in the bottom of the first pounding out six extra-base hits including a pair of two-run homers to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Back-to-back doubles off starter Ben Abram (Georgetown, Ont.) put the first run on the board before a triple and an error brought in another. 

-Jaden Griffin (Lower Sackville, N.S.) took over for Abram in the second and allowed a leadoff triple that came in on a wild pitch before he settled in to retire the side on two strikeouts and a fly out.

-In the third, Griffin gave up a lead off walk and two batters later a three-run homer to centre put the Yankees up by nine.

-Griffin allowed a run in the fourth coming on an RBI single before holding the Yankees off the scoreboard in the fifth.

-Carter Morris (Vernon, BC) took over on the mound in the sixth and the Yankees greeted him with back-to-back doubles to increase their lead to 11-0. 

- The juniors showed life in the ninth plating three runs all coming on the same play. With Owen Diodati (Niagara Falls, Ont) on first and Dasan Brown (Toronto, Ont) on second Daniel Carinci (Ajax, Ont.) ripped a single to centre that was misplayed by the fielder and rolled all the way to the wall. Diodati and Brown scored easily while Carinci hustled around the bases and scored with a headfirst slide into home to beat the relay.

QUICK HITS

-Carinci went 2-for-4 while Diodati, Brown, Jayden Knight (Langley, BC) and Justin Thorsteinson (Langley, BC) collected singles. Blake Buckle (Milton, Ont.) tripled and TJ Schofield-Sam (Brampton, Ont.) doubled as the juniors collected eight hits.

-Jaden Griffin generated plenty of swings and misses during his four-inning outing as he managed to strikeout nine Yankees’ batters.

-Carter Morris turned in a solid performance after allowing back-to-back doubles when he entered the game in the sixth. Morris went three innings and allowed three hit and two walks while collecting three strikeouts.

UP NEXT

The Junior National Team will play the DSL Philadelphia Phillies tomorrow beginning at 10:30am E.T....RHP Connor Sparks (Saskatoon, Sask.) is slated to start on the mound.