Hermosillo, Mexico – The Canadian U18 Men’s National Team earned a key victory by defeating the United States 10-5 to keep its medal hopes alive at the WBSC World Cup. Team Canada broke a 3-3 tie with a run in the top of the fifth and added five in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
The United States opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning by putting a runner on base with a walk and driving the runner in with a double. Canada responded immediately in the top of the second when Alex McGillivray (Durham, Ont.) reached on an error and scored on a triple to the right-center field gap by Joe Weiler (Hepworth, Ont.). Canada proceeded to load the bases with no outs, but a pair of fielder’s choices at the plate and a strikeout kept the game tied. Canada loaded the bases again in the third but was not able to score.
Canada loaded the bases once again in the top of the fourth, with Adrian Green (Carbonear, N.L.) forcing a run home with a walk and McGillivray bringing in another with a ground out as Canada jumped ahead 3-1. However, the Americans came back to tie the game on a run-scoring fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly. In the fifth, Danny Scott (Stratford, Ont.) hit a one-out single and later scored on an error as Canada regained the lead 4-3.
The red and white broke the game open In the top of the sixth. McGillivray led off with a triple and scored on a two-run homerun off the foul pole by Weiler. After Nolan Bultena (Arthur, Ont.) singled, Blake Brubacher (Newton, Ont.) doubled to score him followed by a two-run shot by Riley Good (Wingham, Ont.) to give Canada a commanding 9-3 lead.
Canada added a run to its lead in the top of the seventh on a run-scoring single by Bultena, and the Americans managed to load the bases with one out and scored two runs on a pair of walks, but Sharl Leclerc (Sainte-Claire, Que.) closed the game out with a strikeout after coming in relief of Nic Neid (Terrace, B.C.) who fired six and two third solid innings.
Box Score: Canada 10 vs. United States 5
Neid scattered five runs (three earned) on only four hits and struck out nine batters for the win. Weiler, Bultena and Brubacher each had two hits with Good, Green, McGillivray and Scott each adding one.
With the win, Canada improved its Super Round Record to 2-2 with one more game against Venezuela (1-3) at 5:00pm local time (7:00pm EST) on Saturday. In other Super Round games on Friday, Japan defeated Australia 6-0 and Venezuela beat Mexico 4-1. Other games on Saturday will see the United States (2-2) play Australia (1-3) at 2:00pm and Mexico (3-1) against Japan (3-1) at 8:00pm.
