FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1st, 2015
 

Team Canada Takes Control of First Place
in Pool A with Win over Argentina

(Saskatoon, SK) The Canadian Men’s National Team had their bats ready and produced seven runs on fourteen hits to outlast Argentina 7-5 in an important game in Pool A on Tuesday night. An Argentinean win would have created a tie at the top of the division, but Canada scored in each of the first four innings and held on after a last inning rally to earn the win and remain as the only undefeated team of the tournament.

Team Canada wasted no time opening the scoring, as the second batter of the game Brad Ezekiel (Harbour Main, NL) launched a solo homerun off Argentinean pitcher Juan Potolicchio as Canada took an early 1-0 lead. Argentina responded right away with a one-out solo homerun of their own by Juan Zara to knot the game at one. Ian Fehrman (Townsend, ON) hit yet another one-out homerun in the top half of the second as Canada regained the lead, followed by a single by Bryan Abrey (Richmond, BC) who was quickly retired on a double play to end the inning.

After Argentina was held without a run in the bottom of the second despite a one-out single and a stolen base to put a runner on second, Canada’s bats stayed hot as Brandon Horn (Waterloo, ON) and Mathieu Roy (St-Gervais, QC) hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners to start the inning and chase Potolicchio from the game. Ezekiel hit a sacrifice fly ball to score Horn, Jeff Ellsworth (St. Lawrence, PEI) singled to advance Roy to third, and Jason Hill (St. John’s, NL) drove a double to bring Roy in to score, increasing Canada’s lead to 4-1.

Needing to get back into the game, Argentina worked a pair of walks to start the bottom half of the third and the runners advanced on a passed ball before Bruno Motrini hit a two-run single up the middle to cut the lead to 4-3. Ryan Boland (Goulds, NL) led off the fifth with a single, later followed by a single by Roy and a four-pitch walk to Ezekiel to load the bases. Ellsworth then hit a ground ball to second base and beat the throw to first on a fielder’s choice, allowing Boland to score from third for an important insurance run. Canadian starting pitcher Sean Cleary (Harbour Main, NL) sat Argentina down in order to close out the fourth.

Hill managed a leadoff single in the fifth but was quickly erased on a double play, and Abrey earned a walk but the next batter grounded out. Paul Koert (Stouffville, ON) came on in relief of Cleary in the fifth and sat the Argentineans down in order for the second inning in a row. After Canada went down on a fly out and two ground outs to start the sixth, Argentina pressured as Huemul Mata led off with a single and advanced to third when a fielder’s choice to shortstop was dropped by the second baseman, with the batter also reaching on the play. A stolen base put runners on second and third with no outs, but Koert bounced back with two big strikeouts before inducing an inning-ending fly out to centerfield.

Canada went on to add what would prove to be two important insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Ellsworth led off with a double and immediately scored on a single through the right side of the infield by Steve Mullaley (Freshwater, NL), who advanced to third on a single by Hill. Fehrman then grounded out to first base and the throw to the plate got there early, but Mullaley was able to avoid the tag and touch the plate to score the run, giving Canada a 7-3 lead. Argentina made things interesting in the bottom of the inning with a pair of singles followed by a two-out triple by Mata, but Koert got the next batter to ground out to second to end the game.

Box Score: Canada 7 vs. Argentina 5

Cleary allowed three runs by scattering three hits and three walks to go along with four strikeouts in four innings pitched, while Koert gave up two runs on four hits and struck out four in three innings of relief. Ellsworth and Hill each went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and two singles, with Ezekiel and Fehrman each hitting a solo homerun. Roy chipped in with a pair of singles, with other hits going to Mullaley, Abrey, Boland and Horn.

In other scores on day four at the WBSC Men’s World Softball Championship, Mexico blanked the Netherlands 12-0 in four innings, Australia defeated Denmark 8-2, Great Britain earned a 10-2 win over the Philippines, the Czech Republic edged Guatemala 6-5, the Dominican Republic continued their impressive tournament with a 4-1 win over Japan, and Venezuela won a tight 3-2 contest against the United States.

Team Canada (5-0) will take on Great Britain (3-2) in a Canada Day matchup at 3:00pm CST on Wednesday.

The event website can be found at http://www.2015isfmensworldsoftball.ca/, with Sportscanada.tv webstreaming available at http://sportscanada.tv/worldsoftball/ and Pointstreak live scoring at http://wbscmens.bbstats.pointstreak.com/. The event can also be followed on Facebook (2015 ISF Men’s Worlds) and Twitter (@ISFMens2015). Also make sure to check out Champ’s Chatter – the official newsletter of the 2015 WBSC Men’s World Softball Championship – with a new issue published daily at http://www.2015isfmensworldsoftball.ca//english/media/champs-chatter.html!

How to Follow Team Canada
Softball Canada Website: http://www.softball.ca
Twitter: @SoftballCanada
Facebook: SoftballCanadaNSO

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For more information, please contact:

Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
Cell: (613) 797-7171
gleblanc@softball.ca