October 8, 2024

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

It wasn’t a perfect trip to Florida but it was close.

Canadian Premier went 3-0 in round robin play at the Perfect Game WWBA Underclass World Championship in Fort Myers.

The team coached by Chris Robinson of the Great Lake Canadians, Chad Matton of the Selects and Ontario Blue Jays coach Perry Scott was 1-1 in exhibition play against Australia.

The Canadian Premier team is made up of the best from the Canadian Premier League, which includes the Great Lake Canadians, Windsor Selects, Ontario Blue Jays, Ontario Royals, Toronto Mets, Ontario Nationals, Fieldhouse Pirates, Ontario Astros, Watson Elite, the Terriers and the Titans.

The only serious defeat was to Hurricane Milton. And every other of the 220 teams suffered the same fate as Perfect Game decided to cancel the playoff round of the underclass event and postponing the 18U world Wood Bat championship set for Jupiter, Fla. to Oct. 17-21.

Due to the many hurdles to re-arrange on short notice the Canadian Premier League will not be sending a team. The same goes for the Brewers/Langley Blaze team coach by Doug Mathieson. Next weekend is a “close” period for college coaches when they are not allowed to talk to high schoolers.

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Ontario Blue Jays RHP Charlie Firth (Ottawa, Ont.)

Charlie Firth (Ottawa, Ont.) worked two scoreless innings as he and five relievers combined on a one-hit 7-0 win over HP 2027. The win wrapped up round-robin play with Robinson’s team having a 3-0 mark and would have been the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. Firth fanned three and threw 53% of his 28 pitches for strikes.

Cameron Tully (Mississauga, Ont.), Thomas Khan (Pickering, Ont.), Nicholas Halcovitch (Waterdown, Ont.), Matthew Neufeld (Kingsville, Ont.) and Ty McGuirk (Collingwood, Ont.) each put up a zero. Neufeld struck out the side, while Tully, Khan and Halcovitch struck out two each. In all, of the 21 outs, 12 were strikeouts.

2B Jack Ward (Paris, Ont.) doubled and singled, knocking in two runs, while 1B Jalen Jacob (Maple, Ont.) also doubled. SS Elliot Lascelles (Toronto, Ont.) had a pair of hits.

The other hits went to LF Christian Iriotakis (Toronto, Ont.), Zach Barker (Bolton, Ont.) and William Henderson (Mississauga, Ont.).

Ontario Blue Jays 1B Jalen Jacob (Maple, Ont.)

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Canadian Premier improved to 2-0 with a 7-1 win over the famed Midland Redskins. Noah Powell (Toronto, Ont.) and Nathan Wall (Waterloo, Ont.) each pitched two innings.

They had support from Jacob (a solo home run), Lascelles (2-for-3, knocking in a run and stealing a base), Tyson Borghese (Guelph, Ont. ... double), plus doubles from Barker and Douglas, while Evan York (Waterloo, Ont.) had a hit and knocked in a run.

Matthias Lipka (Mississauga, Ont.) and Zach Duke (Burlington, Ont.) each pitched a scoreless inning.

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LHP Mathis McKenna (Rigaud, Que.) and RHP Jack Potts (London, Ont.) combined on a perfect game for Canada Premier’s 4-0 win over Wow Factor Northeast 2026 Nation in the first game of round-robin play at JetBlue Park, winter home of the Boston Red Sox.

McKenna threw 4 2/3 innings, striking out nine, throwing 71% of his 57 pitches for strikes. Potts took over and threw 82% of his 29 pitches in the zone fanning six.

Hannah Jo Groves of the Perfect Game Scouting Service has all the details of the El Perfecto.

Irotakis doubled in two runs while Lascelles knocked in one with a single ... and he stole three bases.

1B Jamie Moore (London, Ont.) had a pair of hits and Borghese singled for the other hits.

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Lascelles had a pair of hits and knocked in two runs as Canadian Premier beat Team Australia 6-2 in exhibition play, before pool play began. Irotakis singled in a run, while the other knocks went to Barker and Borghese.

Neufeld pitched two scoreless striking out one, while Powell, Wall and Lipka each worked a scoreless inning. Lipka and starter Tully each fanned two.

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Team Australia beat Canadian Premier 8-0 in the opening exhibition game.

So four wins, one loss and a playoff defeat against Hurricane Milton.