Elliott Jupiter III: French, Marsh, Touma, Young

1RHP Lukas Touma (Whitby, Ont.) pitched five hitless innings.for the Ontario Blue Jays in a 1-1 tie against the Louisiana Knights 2020.

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

If a team only gets three hits they don’t stand much of a chance of winning.

However, if they only allow two hits? Well, that’s a different matter.

Three Ontario Blue Jays pitchers combined on a two-hitter in a 1-1 tie against the Louisiana Knights 2020.

RHP Lukas Touma pitched five hitless innings. Touma (Whitby, Ont.) allowed an unearned run on one walk. He threw 54 pitches (57% strikes) and his fastball peaked at 87 MPH.

Nelson Mercado and Ryan Kush each worked a scoreless inning for Joey Ellison’s squad. Mercado (Brampton, Ont.) walked one and struck out on in his 18-pitch effort (44% strikes) peaking at 89 MPH. Kush (Guelph, Ont.) allowed two hits in his 13-pitch outing (69% strikes) as he was clocked at 82 MPH.

A lead-off walk came around to score against Touma, but that was that by Ontario Blue Jays pitchers.

They tied the score in the second when Taeg Gollert (Toronto, Ont.) walked and SS Blake Simpson (Ajax, Ont.) followed with a single to centre. RF Robin French (Lakefield, Ont.) singled to right scoring their only run.

CF David Calabrese (Maple, Ont.), Simpson and French had the hits for the Ontario Blue Jays.

The Ontario Blue Jays finished pool play at 0-2-1.

Pool Standings

Pool A

Teams PCT W-L-T RA RS

Cangelosi Sparks 2020 Black .833 2-0-1 6 20

Louisiana Knights 2020 .500 0-0-3 5 5

5 Star National 2020 .500 1-1-1 8 6

Ontario Blue Jays .167 0-2-1 15 3

Seven more zeros: The DBacks Langley Blaze continue to roll along with starting pitching from Hawaii and position players from Ohio.

Yet, half of the Blaze’s four hits were Canadian made as the Langley Blaze blanked Miami PG Columbia Blue 3-0 to complete pool play undefeated.

With one out in the second, C Russell Young (Cloverdale, BC) hit a line single to centre and advanced on a balk. Young scored the only run the Blaze would need when 3B Aaron Marsh (Nanaimo, BC) hit a run-scoring single to left.

Three innings later Young walked and stole second. After Marsh walked, Young stole third. A walk loaded the bases, then a ground ball and two walks put a two-spot on the board.

Young and Marsh each had a hit.

RP Kaleb Nantes (Victoria, BC) recorded the final out of the game needing only four pitches (75% strikes) as he was clocked at 75 MPH.

Pool Standings

Pool J

Teams PCT W-L-T RA RS

DBacks Langley Blaze .833 2-0-1 6 13

Braves Scout Team/Team Elite .500 0-0-3 2 2

MVP .500 1-1-1 10 18

Miami PG Columbia Blue .167 0-2-1 17 2