U-18 Baseball World Cup: Canada suffers untimely loss to Australia
Photo: Baseball Canada
September 4, 2019
By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
GIJANG, South Korea – A botched play in the top of the eighth that saw Canada commit two throwing errors led to two Australia runs and they hung on for a 7-6 win over Canada’s Junior National Team at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup.
The loss drops Canada’s opening round record to 3-2 good enough to secure a spot in the Super Round that begins on Thursday. With opening round losses to South Korea and Australia, Canada will open Super Round play with a 0-2 record before facing Japan, the United States and Chinese Taipei.
Trailing 2-0 and held without a hit by Australia starting pitcher William Sherriff through four innings, Canada struck for four runs in the fifth with Elijha Hammill (Oakville, Ont.) driving in a pair on a two-out double to left field before Micah McDowell (Coldbrook, N.S.) drilled a two-run homer over the wall in right field.
Australia responded with some of their own two-out magic in the sixth as Byron Armstrong doubled with the bases loaded to regain their lead before adding the runs in the eighth.
Canada starting pitcher Antoine Jean (Montréal, Que.) allowed three earned runs over five and two-thirds innings of work and struck out seven batters before being replaced by Eli Saul (Vancouver, BC) who suffered the loss.
Down by three in the eighth, Austin Gomm (Mississauga, Ont.) lined a two-out double to the gap in left-centre to score two and close the gap to one before the Aussies escaped trouble with a strikeout and again in the ninth leaving two runners on base to secure the win.
Canada now faces an uphill climb facing the top three seeds in Group B, Japan, USA and Chinese Taipei, in order to have a chance to play for a medal.