September 18, 2024

By Ismail Fasih

Centennial Sports Journalism

TORONTO – Aiden Taggart (Grimsby, Ont.) struck out five over three scoreless innings and Kieran Cutler (Paradise, Nfld.) scored three runs as Team Red beat Team Navy 8-0 at the Canadian Futures Showcase on Wednesday.

Along with George Hobbins (Calgary, Alta.) and Jerome-Felix Lessard (St Joseph Du Lac, Que.), the Team Red pitching trio allowed only one hit.

Taggart, 18, did not concede any hits or walks and was the obvious choice for player of the game.

“It’s really exciting, I’m glad I performed as well as I did in front of such a big crowd of scouts and coaches,” Taggart said after the game. “Really grateful to win player of the game.”

Team Navy got off to a shaky start as Taggart struck out Maxime Blain (Repentigny, Que), Jaxon George (Belnan, N.S.), Jalen Jacob (Maple, Ont.) and Logan Cummins (Mississauga, Ont.) in quick succession before sitting down Kadyn Armitage (Surrey, B.C.).

Taggart handed the reigns off to Hobbins in the fourth but Team Navy still struggled to get a hit. Hobbins ended with four strikeouts in two innings. Lessard closed out the game with one strikeout, one walk and one hit in two innings.

Cutler got Team Red on the board first, scoring on a sacrifice fly from Joey Khananisho (Kleinburg, Ont.) in the bottom of the second. The 17-year-old’s second run came off a ground ball to left field by Nicholas Cote (Oakville, Ont.) in the bottom of the fourth. His final run came in the bottom of the sixth via a ground ball to right field by Khananisho.

Other big performers at the plate were Felix Gosselin (Drummondville, Que.), who went 3-for-3 and had three RBIs, Khananisho with three RBIs of his own and Cote with two hits and an RBI.

Julian Sabourin (Ancaster, Ont.), the starting pitcher for Team Navy, allowed two earned runs on four hits and struck out four batters. Relief pitcher Matthew Neufeld (Kingsville, Ont.) allowed three walks, two earned runs, one hit and struck out one batter. Closer Lucas St-Laurent (Ascot Corner, Que.) gave up four hits, one earned run and struck out four.