DSL Tour: Rays prospects defeat juniors
Photo: Baseball Canada
May 21, 2019
By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
GUERRA, Dominican Republic –-- The Dominican Summer League (DSL) tour entered the halfway mark earlier today with the Junior National Team falling to the Tampa Bay Rays’ Dominican prospects, 7-3.
The juniors came out swinging in the top of the first with Micah McDowell (Coldbrook, N.S.) and TJ Schofield-Sam (Brampton, Ont.) combining on back-to-back triples to open the scoring while Owen Diodati (Niagara Falls, Ont.) followed with a single to centre to make it 2-0.
The Rays answered back in the home half of the inning taking advantage of two walks, a double steal and RBI ground out to knot the score.
In the second, with the bases loaded, they brought in runs on consecutive fielder’s choice plays that put them in front by two.
Starting pitcher Viktor Bergeron (Terrebonne, Que.) blanked the Rays in the third before a sac fly in the fourth put them up by three. Bergeron tossed five innings and was charged with three earned runs on two hits and five walks while fanning one batter.
Connor O’Halloran (Mississauga, Ont.) took over for Bergeron in the sixth and kept the Rays off the scoreboard before working his way out of a jam in the seventh.
With runners on the corners and nobody out, O’Halloran started a pick off at first base that went for a caught stealing before striking out a pair.
The juniors added a run in the eighth, going station-to-station as Cesar Valero (Calgary, Alta.) drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch before moving to third when Elijha Hammill (Oakville, Ont.) flied out to right and scored on Josh Walker’s (Victoria, B.C.) RBI ground out.
In the bottom of the frame, a two-run homer to left gave the Rays a 7-3 lead.
UP NEXT
The Junior National Team will be back in action tomorrow with a scheduled doubleheader against the DSL Twins (10:30 a.m. ET) followed by a match-up against the DSL Yankees (2:30 p.m. E.T.).