Sixth-inning rally propels Team Royal past Team New Blue

North Shore Twins right-hander Xander Guedes (North Vancouver, B.C.), who picked up the win for Team Royal, follows through on his delivery to a Team New Blue batter. Team Royal orchestrated a come-from-behind 4-2 victory in the fourth game of the Canadian Futures Showcase at Rogers Centre on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. Photo: Howard Bailey

September 18, 2024

By Sulien Khan

Centennial Sports Journalism

TORONTO – Sean Duncan, a 16-year-old from Port Coquitlam, B.C., was in control on his way to a no-hitter over three innings of work for Team New Blue before things went sideways in a 4-2 loss to Team Royal at the Canadian Futures Showcase at Rogers Centre on Wednesday.

Team Royal generated all their offence in the bottom of the sixth inning, with a fielding error followed by a wild pitch leading to the tying and go-ahead run. Oakville’s Robert Omidi broke the combined no-hitter with an RBI single, while Dom Morgan (Sherwood Park, Alta.) added an insurance run with a groundball up the middle.

Despite not getting the win, Duncan, who finished with five strikeouts, did all he could to give his team a chance to win.

“Just getting ahead in counts, slowing them down with change-ups and speeding their eyes up with fastballs up in the zone,” Duncan said about his approach.

“It feels awesome. You get to do it, especially on the biggest stage in Canada, you get to do it against the best players in Canada.”

Xander Guedes (North Vancouver, B.C.) earned the win for Team Royal over Thomas Khan (Pickering, Ont.), who took the loss.

Will Hynes (Mississauga, Ont.) got the game underway for Team Royal but gave up a leadoff single to Nathan Belle (Brampton, Ont.). He reached third on a wild throw that would have caught him stealing second. Belle then quickly made it home on a wild pitch to open the scoring for Team New Blue.

The third inning saw Jordan Taylor (Cambridge, Ont.) take over the mound for Hynes after he needed 49 pitches to make it to the end of the second inning.

Taylor started the top of the fifth inning with back-to-back walks to Luke Laird (Langley, B.C.) and Thomas Hanger (Toronto) but only allowed one run to score. William Beaudoin (L’Epiphanie, Que.), of Team New Blue, reached home on a ground ball hit by Matthew Vrlak (Vancouver, B.C.) to double the lead.

Team Royal was down to their final out in the bottom of the sixth inning when they started their game-winning comeback.