Houle/Robson Help Defeat Brazil

The Junior National Baseball team managed to grab their second win of the Americas World Junior Qualification Tournament with a 6-1 victory over Brazil in no easy fashion.

Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, ON) tossed five innings of shutout ball to earn the win on the mound.

“It was a collective effort today,” said Head Coach, Greg Hamilton. “Cal started well for us and filled up the strike-zone.”

“The Juniors put up two runs in the first inning as Brett Siddall (Windsor, ON) scored the game’s first run on a single from Brendan Hendriks (Cochrane, AB).

Later in the inning, Daniel Pinero (Toronto, ON) scored on a sac-fly from Dustin Houle (Penticton, BC).

Quantrill didn’t allow a hit until the top of the fourth when the Brazilians hit back to back singles.

Up 3-0 in the fifth, Quantrill got out of a one-out jam when the Canadians recorded a 6-4-3 double play with runners at the corners.

“We simplified things on defence and we’re playing catch,” explained Hamilton. “We’re making routine plays and when you do that you have a good chance to win baseball games.”

Jesen Dygestile-Therrien (Montréal, QC) came on for the sixth and seventh innings and picked up right where Quantrill left off.

Therrien allowed only one hit in two innings of work and struck out one batter.

In the seventh, the Juniors improved their lead to 6-0 with a three-run outburst. Jacob Robson (Windsor, ON) walked and Siddall hit his second RBI double of the game to score Robson from first who was running on the play.

Siddall scored when Hendriks ripped an opposite field double to left for his second RBI of the game. Hendriks moved to third base on a Houle single and scored the third run of the inning on a wild pitch.

Tom Robson (Ladner, BC) allowed Brazil’s only run of the game in the eighth, before holding them off the scoreboard and sealing the victory with a scoreless ninth inning.

“Tom gathered himself after the eighth and pitched aggressively in the ninth,” added Hamilton. “The umpire was tough. Tom knew he needed to be better in ninth and it ended up being a good finish for him.”

Canada now faces the Netherlands Antilles.