March 12, 2020

By Adam Morissette

Baseball Canada

DUNEDIN, FL--- Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) drilled a solo home run off the centre field batter’s eye in the sixth inning while Brando Leroux (Markham, Ont.) scored three runs and went 3-for-3 in facing the Toronto Blue Jays who fielded a lineup featuring players from the big league club.

BOX SCORE

The score read 22-6 in favour of the Jays, but it didn’t matter as the young Junior National Team players soaked in the experience of being a professional baseball player for a day.

“It was amazing, something I’ll never forget,” said Caissie when talking of the game and his home run. “This whole experience has been unbelievable from the time we arrived at the field, the clubhouse, batting practice and then to play this game today.

Blue Jays’ flamethrower and one-time Junior National Team member Jordan Romano (Markham, Ont.) pitched the first inning featuring a fastball that reached the high 90’s. That didn’t deter Junior National Team hitters as David Calabrese (Maple, Ont.) and Elijha Hammill (Oakville, Ont.) each lined singles to centre field in the frame.

“You had to be ready up there,” said Hammill. “(The ball) was coming in pretty quick, so I just got myself ready and was able to put a good swing on the ball.”

Canadian members of the Blue Jays’ organization Alex Nolan (Burlington, Ont.), Curtis Taylor (Coquitlam, BC) and Will McAffer (North Vancouver, BC) followed Romano on the mound while recent Junior National Team grads Dasan Brown (Oakville, Ont.), J-C Masson (Lévis, Que.) and Demi Orimoloye (Orleans, Ont.) played in the game along with Sherwood Park, Alberta’s Tanner Kirwer.

Orimoloye, who played in the all-Canadian match-up twice during his Junior National Team career, doubled twice, drove in a run and scored three times while Masson went 2-for-3 with a run scored as the Jays piled up 20 hits.

Down 11-0 in the fifth, Calabrese skied a ball to centre field that allowed Brando Leroux to tag and score from third for the first of his three runs scored on the day before Caissie drilled the first pitch he saw off Connor Overton over the wall in centre in the sixth.

Down but not out, the juniors fought to push across a run in the seventh and three more in the eighth including a Brando Leroux RBI double while Russell Young (Surrey, BC) knocked in a pair on a single to second.

Junior National Team spring training update

With Major League Baseball cancelling the remainder of spring training due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Junior National Team’s scheduled games against prospects squads from the New York Yankees’ (Match 13) and Detroit Tigers’ (March 14) organizations have been cancelled.

With the safety of our athletes and staff our main priority, Baseball Canada will continue to monitor updates and recommendations from the Government of Canada along with the Florida Department of Health and the City of St. Petersburg.