Sincelejo, Colombia – The U18 Canadian Men’s National Team faced a tough Venezuela team on Tuesday, falling 8-1 in five innings in game two of the 2023 WBSC Americas Pan American Championship.

Nic Neid (Terrace, B.C.) got the start in the circle for Team Canada, pitching two and one-third innings, giving up four runs on six hits, striking out three and walking one.

Venezuela opened the scoring in the top of the second inning with three singles to make it 3-0.

In the top of the second, Venezuela added to their lead with a single to centre. Venezuela increased their lead to six in the top of the fourth inning off another single to centre field.

In the top of the third, Canada made a pitching change, bringing in Cohen Christner (New Hamburg, Ont.). Christner gave up three runs on one hit, with one strikeout in 0.2 innings pitched.

Canada made another pitching change in the top of the fourth, bringing in Sharl Leclerc (Sainte-Claire, Que.) for Christner. Leclerc gave up one run on one hit, with two strikeouts in two innings of work.

The Canadians got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning when Nolan Bultena (Arthur, Ont.) made it on base from a walk. Daniel Scott (Stratford, Ont.) then doubled on a line drive to left field, scoring Bultena to make the final score 8-1.

Christner, Blake Brubacher (Newton, Ont.)  and Scott each collected one hit for Team Canada, with Scott leading the team with one run batted in.

Canada will look to bounce back on Wednesday when they take on Peru at 2:00pm COT (3:00pm EDT). All games will be live streamed here.