by Baseball Canada
Guerra, DR-The Junior National Team scored twice in the top of the eighth inning only to see the Seattle Mariners Dominican prospects respond with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning as both teams played to a 6-6 tie.
With the score tied at four runs apiece in the top of the eighth, the juniors loaded the bases with two out before Johnny Caputo (Toronto, ON) walked to score Gareth Morgan (Toronto, ON) from third base and Jacob Robson (Windsor, ON) laced a single to left field which brought in Brett Siddall (Windsor, ON).
Morgan had led-off with a walk and Siddall followed with a single which allowed Mitchell Triolo (Scarborough, ON) to lay down a sacrifice-bunt to move the runners over.
In the home half of the eighth a solo home run brought the Mariners within one run of the lead and an error followed by a double brought home the tying run.
The Mariners opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when JNT starter Travis Seabrooke (Peterborough, ON) gave-up a lead-off triple to the gap in left-centre which came around to score two batters later on a sac-fly to right.
The juniors were quick to respond in the top of the second when Gareth Morgan led-off with a single and scored when Mitchell Triolo doubled to left field.
In the top of the third, Kyle Hann (Oakville, ON) lifted a sacrifice-fly to centerfield which brought in Robson from third and the juniors were in front 2-1.
The lead was short lived however, as the Mariners took advantage of back-to-back singles in the third and tied the game on a wild-pitch from Seabrooke.
Refusing to be outdone, the juniors then retook the lead in the top of the fourth as singles from Triolo, Owen Spiwak (Mississauga, ON) and Chris Shaw (Winnipeg, MB) loaded the bases and Jesse Hodges (Victoria, BC) reached on a fielder’s choice which allowed Triolo to score.
Seabrooke left the game after the fourth giving way to Jake Marks (Brights Grove, ON) who tossed a scoreless fifth inning with one strikeout and his team gave him a two-run lead in the sixth on a Chris Shaw RBI single.
Marks gave up a run in each of the sixth and seventh innings, both courtesy of solo home runs to left field which tied the game at four.
After giving up two runs in the eighth, Marks was replaced on the mound by Logan Seifrit (Spruce Grove, AB) who was able to keep the Mariners at bay striking out one in 1 1/3 innings of relief.
Notes: The juniors will wrap-up the Dominican Summer League Camp with a day/night double-header tomorrow. In the morning the club will travel to San Pedro de Macoris to play the Los Angeles Angles with Fernando Fernandez (Montréal, QC) scheduled to start…In the evening at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo, the juniors will face MLB Prospect League which features some of the top Dominican players eligible to sign with MLB teams on or after July 2nd.MLB.com wrote a piece outlining the MLB Prospect League and a preview of tomorrow night’s game can be found HERE.The only way to stay up-to-date is by following Baseball Canada on Twitter (www.twitter.com/baseballcanada).
The Dominican Camp is one of two camps remaining prior to the IBAF 18U World Championship in Seoul, South Korea August 30th-September8th. There will be a Final Camp and exhibition series from August 15th -27th where the final 20-man roster will be selected for the world championship.
