DSL Tour: Diodati, Valero, McDowell lead juniors to doubleheader split

Great Lake Canadians alum Owen Diodati (Niagara Falls, Ont.) was 3-for-4 with a home run and four runs in the first game of the Junior National Team’s doubleheader on Wednesday. Photo: Baseball Canada

May 22, 2019

By Adam Morissette

Baseball Canada

BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic –-- With their eighth and ninth games in six days and third doubleheader in five days, the Junior National Team’s offence showed little in the way of fatigue as the club recorded 20 hits in games against the Dominican Summer League’s Twins and Yankees earlier today.

The juniors came up on the right side of a 13-6 win over the Twins in the morning contest while falling to the Yankees, 6-4, in the afternoon with four games in three days remaining on the Dominican Summer League tour.

JNT 13, DSL Twins 6 (Box Score)

Owen Diodati (Niagara Falls, Ont.) drilled a seventh inning solo home run off the centre field batter’s eye as part of a 3-for-4 day at the plate with two doubles and two RBI while Cesar Valero (Calgary, Alta.) homered in the ninth as the Junior National Team earned a, 13-6, win over the DSL Twins.

The juniors pounded-out 12 hits with Micah McDowell (Coldbrook, N.S.) enjoying a 3-for-3 game at the plate with two runs scored, TJ Schofield-Sam (Brampton, Ont.) contributing four RBI on two hits while Noah Hull (Toronto, Ont.) drove in three runs highlighted by a two-run triple in the top of the second.

On the mound, starting pitcher Jack Seward (Port Moody, B.C.) fanned eight batters over five innings of work and held the Twins scoreless for four innings before a two-out bases clearing triple in the fifth put the Twins on the scoreboard trailing, 5-3.

Adam Maier (North Vancouver, B.C.) faced just seven batters through two innings and struck out three after taking over for Seward in the sixth before the Twins plated three runs in the home half of the eighth.

With the bases loaded, a tough hop eluded second baseman Elijha Hammill (Oakville, Ont.) bringing two runs in before a sac fly scored another.

None of the runs scored were charged to Maier and he finished with five strikeouts over four innings pitched.

DSL Yankees 6, JNT 4 (Box Score)

In the afternoon contest, the juniors kept swinging the bats collecting eight hits on the afternoon but fell to the New York Yankees’ Dominican prospects, 6-4.

After Dasan Brown (Oakville, Ont.) doubled and scored in the first, the juniors added a pair of runs in fifth with Ryan Leitch (Whitby, Ont.) and Owen Diodati combining on back-to-back doubles before Joshua Walker (Victoria, B.C.) connected on an RBI single to right field that made it 3-0.

Starting pitcher Theo Millas (Burnaby, B.C.) was in control early on working five scoreless frames including an eight-pitch inning in the second, a four-pitch frame in the third and three straight strikeouts in the fourth. At one point he’d retired 12 batters in a row.

The Yankees finally got to Millas in the sixth using a double, triple and sac-fly to plate two runs before he exited the game in the seventh with one out and the bases loaded in favour of Justin Thorsteinson (Langley, B.C.).

Thorsteinson issued a walk to the first batter he faced to tie the score before a two-run single gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

The juniors closed the gap to one run in the eighth with Ryan Leitch doubling to right and coming around to score on a Cesar Valero single while the Yankees used a one-out triple and RBI single to get an insurance run.

UP NEXT

The Junior National Team will be back in action tomorrow with a scheduled contest against the DSL Mets at 10:30 a.m. E.T.