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By Bob Elliott 

North Iowa Trojans coach Travis Hergert gave Tim Black the ball.

And like Jack Morris in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, Black wouldn’t give it back.

Not until Black pitched North Iowa to a 3-1 win over Miles opening round of the North Plains district tournament at Glendive, Mont.

Black (Mount Hope, Ont.) pitched a two hitter, struck out 11 and walked one in the nine-inning victory while allowing an unearned run.

Morris pitched 10 scoreless as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Atlanta Braves 1-0.

Black’s strikeout effort moved his school-record total to 116 and into second place on the single-season list with 60. He’s also tied with teammate Lucas Bakker for first when it comes to career innings with 125 2/3.

Black earned 2012 Canadian Baseball Network honourable mention honours.

Next North Iowa beat Dakota County Technical 10-2.

And then the Trojans knocked off Dakota County Tech again 4-1 to advance to the NJCAA Division II World Series in Enid, Oak.

On the season … Black was 5-3 with one save and a 2.14 ERA. He walked 23 and struck out 60 in 63 innings.

Black is one of three Canadians to make the NJCAA Division II World Series.

All in all, 43 Canadians began the season with hopes of making it to Oklahoma the final week of May.

The others

_ Austin Marcellus (Ingleside, Ont.) and J.D. Marks (Ottawa, Ont.) Lackawanna Falcons.

Marcellus singled in a run in a 9-8 first-round loss to the Cecil Seahawks, as the Falcons scored six in the bottom of the ninth in the opener of the Northeast district championship at North East, Md.

DH Marcellus was 1-for-3 with an RBI in a 10-5 win to even the series.

Lackawanna beat Cecil 2-1 in the finale.

On the season … Marks hit .261 with three doubles, a triple and 24 RBIs in 31 games. while Marcellus hit .234 with three doubles, a homer and seven RBIs in 20 games.

The other teams entered are LSU-Eunice Bengals, Scottsdale Artichokes, Grand Rapids Raiders, Murray State Racers, Brunswick Dolphins and the Madison Wolfpack.

2013 Top Canadians eligible for draft
2013 Canadians in the Minors 
2013 Canadians in College 
Letters of Intent
2012-13 Canadians at Canadian schools 

By Bob Elliott

Jeremy Filipek pitched Midland to a berth in the 56th annual Avista JUCO World Series this weekend in Grand Junction, Col.

RHP Filipek (Langley, BC) pitched a complete game 9-2 win over Grayson County in the NJCAA Region V tournament at QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie, Tex. He allowed two runs on eight hits and four walks. He struck out nine.

The nickname of Midland College is the Chaparrals. Yet, with a stitch here and there the name could be altered to the Midland Canucks.

Or maybe the Midland Canadians.

Consider …

C Chris Shaw (Winnipeg, Man.) homered hit a grand slam in the third inning.

Tyler Barlow (Maple Ridge, BC) singled in a run.

Jeremie Fagnan (Calgary, Alta.) singled.

And then there was Filipek … all in the regional final.

The quartet make up 10 Canadians playing for the title. In all 177 Canadian JUCO players began the season playing NJCAA Division I play in the hopes to head to Grand Junction.

Shaw, Barlow and Fagnan went hitless in the opener, a 2-1 win over Weatherford.

Barlow and Fagnan each singled, while Shaw was hitless in a 7-6 win against Howard.

Shaw had two hits, including a double, while Fagnan had two hits and Barlow singled and knocked in a run in a 7-0 win over Temple.

Barlow hit .272 (3-for-11) with two RBIs during the four games, while Shaw batted .267 (4-for-15) with four RBIs and Fagnan .235 (4-for-17) with two RBIs.

On the season … Fagnan led Midland with a .410 average in 60 games which included 19 doubles, 11 triples, six homers, 71 RBIs and an 1.161 OPS.

Shaw batted .283 in 52 games with 21 doubles, three triples, 10 homers, 63 RBIs and a 1.199 OPS.

Barlow hit .266 in 48 games with 13 doubles, one triple and 29 RBIs with a .778 OPS.

On the mound, Filipek was 6-2 in 15 games with a 3.27 ERA. He walked 25 and struck out 58 in 52 1/3 innings.

The others:

_ OF Phil Diedrick (Pickering, Ont.), RHP Andrew Simonetti (Toronto, Ont.) and RHP Jordan Romano (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Connors State Cowboys.

The fifth-ranked Cowboys overpowered Maple Woods 9-5 in their opening game of the NJCAA South Central District at Biff Thompson Field in Warner, Oak. Simonetti pitched a scoreless ninth and Deidrick singled.

Next came a stunning 11-10 victory in 10 innings over No. 1-ranked Delgado Doplhins. Deadlocked at 10-10, a second Cowboys was hit by a pitch forcing home a pinch runner for Diedrick, who also had been hit with a pitch, with the winning run. Diedrick was hit by a pitch earlier, scoring on a single giving Connors a 6-2 lead. Diedrick hit a two-run single to right centre giving Connors a 9-5 lead. He also doubled.

Simonetti worked a scoreless seventh.

Diedrick was hitless as Connors State opened with a 3-1 win over Delgado

On the season … Diedrick hit .307 with eight doubles, six homers and 29 RBIs. Romano was 4-3 in 10 starts with a 4.26 ERA, walking 44 and striking out 53 in 38 innings. Simonetti was 3-0 with two saves and a 3.52 ERA, walking six and fanning 21 in 30 2/3 innings.

_ INF Dennon Koziol (Hamilton, Ont.) Kaskaskia Blue Devils.

Few enjoyed as a productive a tournaments as Koziol did to get to the College World Series.

He singled in the opener, a 9-1 win over Rend Lake of the Region XXIV tourney at Centralia, Ill.

Then, he was 4-for-4 knocking in a pair of runs in an 11-1 win over Wabash Valley.

And in the final he was 4-for-5 with five RBIs in a 17-7 win over Wabash Valley.

Koziol was 9-for-12 (.750) in the three games.

On the season … he had 16 doubles, two triples, with 43 RBIs and a .404 average.

_ OF Byron Reichstein (St. Thomas, Ont.) Navarro Bulldogs.

Reichstein was hitless in the opener of the Region XIV tourney, a 4-0 win over the Galveston Whitecaps at Lufkin Tex.

He played a role Navarro’s win over the Paris Ponies, bunting the lead-off man to second and reaching first in the 13th as the Bulldogs scored the winner for a 4-3 win. He also singled in the 11th.

Reichstein had two hits and knocked in two runs in a 15-13 win against the San Jacinto Bulldogs. He had a two-run singled in the fifth to put Navarro up 5-4 in the fifth and singled again in the sixth.

One of his two singles came in the three-run sixth of the final to cut Alvin’s lead to 2-1 and scored the lead run as Navarro registered 4-2 win.

On the season … Reichstein had 11 doubles, five triples, three homers and 35 RBIs while batting .293 in 52 games.

_ RHP Kenton Schroter (Nanaimo BC) Cochise Apaches.

Cochise beat Northeastern 9-7, Western Nebraska 4-2 and Western Nevada 18-11 to win the NJCAA Western District championship in Sterling, Col. and earn a trip to the JUCO World Series.

On the season … Schroter was 2-1 with two saves and a 2.87 ERA. He walked seven and struck out 15 in 15 2/3 innings appearing nin nine games.

The other entries are Spartanburg Methodist Pioneers, Walters State Senators, Central Alabama Trojans, Neosho Panthers and Palm Beach State Panthers.

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Prospects 1-100, Rob Zastryzny, 81st, Tyler O’Neill, 84th

Prospects 101-200, Cal Quantrill, 127th, Nic Pivetta, 138th

2013 Top Canadians eligible for draft
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By Adam Morissette

BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic — The Minnesota Twins Dominican prospects broke open a 4-4 tie with four runs in the bottom of the seventh and went onto a 10-5 victory over the Junior National Team in the first game of the Dominican Summer League.

Pitcher Daniel Marquez (Cambridge, Ont.) issued a lead-off walk that came around to score on a passed ball and an RBI single gave the Twins a two-run lead with one out in the inning.

After a passed ball, another run scored on a wild pitch and the fourth run of the inning scored on an errant throw to first base in an attempted pick-off.

The juniors had opened the scoring in the top of the first as Jake Lumley (Windsor, Ont.) singled, stole second and scored on a single up the middle from Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.).

The Twins got the run back in the home half of the first on an RBI double off starter Dylan Brooks (Dorchester, Ont.).

With runners on first and second and nobody out, Brooks induced a pop-out and was the beneficiary of a tremendous play by second baseman Chris Thibedeau (Dartmouth, NS) who made a diving catch on a line drive and doubled off the runner at first base.

After the Twins recorded two quick outs in the top of the second, Owen Spiwak (Mississauga, Ont.) singled and Thibedeau walked which set the table for a Demi Orimoloye (Orleans, Ont.) double over the left fielder’s head to cash in both runs.

Brooks allowed a run in the bottom of the second before retiring five Twins in a row coming on two pop-outs, two ground-outs and strikeout.

Brooks looked to get out of the fourth inning but a two-out, two-run double gave the Twins a 4-3 lead after four innings.

Nathan Borges (Brooklin, Ont.) came on for the fifth and was efficient in sitting down three batters in a row which allowed the juniors to tie the score in the top of the sixth on a Gareth Morgan (Toronto, Ont.) RBI groundout.

Morgan’s groundout scored Lumley who reached on an error and ended up on third base after a Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) double down the left field line.

Borges worked out of a one-out jam in the sixth as Lumley threw a runner out at home on a groundball to third and a fielder’s choice ended the inning to keep the score tied.

Borges allowed only one hit, while striking out two batters in two innings of work.

After the Twins took the lead in the seventh, Naylor got his third hit and second RBI single of the game to make the score 8-5, but the Twins added runs on a passed ball and RBI single to take a commanding five run lead.

Notes: The juniors will travel to San Pedro de Macoris tomorrow for a 10:30 am game against the Toronto Blue Jays before heading down the road to take on the Milwaukee Brewers in the afternoon … Travis Seabrooke (Peterborough, Ont.) is scheduled to start against the Jays, while Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, ON) will start against the Brewers …

2013 Top Canadians eligible for draft
2013 Canadians in the Minors 
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Cross Canada tour ….

Newfoundland and Labrador

Nova Scotia

New Brunswick

British Columbia

Manitoba

Ontario

Quebec

Saskatchewan

By Adam Morissette

With the 2013 baseball season right around the corner Baseball.ca will visit with each of the 10 Provincial organizations during a 10 week period. This week we meet with Baseball PEI Executive Director Jacob Smith.

Baseball Prince Edward Island went through a transition in the off-season which saw Jacob Smith take over as Executive Director.

Smith, a native of Georgetown Royalty, PEI, is a recent graduate of the Kinesiology Program at the University of New Brunswick where he was a two-time National Champion with the Varsity Reds team.

“I’m extremely excited about the new position as this is the area that I have been hoping to take my Kinesiology degree,” said Smith. “I have a huge love for baseball and love sharing and teaching the game to kids.

“I’m very excited to see baseball grow over the next few years.”

Since stepping into the office in early April, Smith has been part of a make-over that includes a new logo and updated website for Baseball PEI.

“The new logo came along because the old one is just that, old and dated,” explained Smith. “The updated website gives us a more modern look and I have also built a Facebook page to create more of a social media buzz.

“With a new logo will come new clothing and merchandise which will hopefully reinvigorate people.”

“We are going to use the new logo everywhere and anywhere we can.”

Brand awareness is something that Smith sees as a priority as the organization moves forward with the hopes of spurring growth in the future.

“We want to get to a point where people understand who we are and what were are trying to accomplish.”

Smith has been busy banging on doors of the corporate community looking for corporate partners willing to invest in amateur baseball such as Comfort Inn who has recently became the official hotel of Baseball PEI.

With registration now complete, indications are that many teams will be hitting the fields soon to get their season started which is positive for a sport that has a strong grassroots tradition in the province.

“Baseball in PEI is a traditional grassroots game that has been played for many years all across the Island,” added Smith. “There is a good chance that when a child takes his or her first step onto a baseball field in PEI, his mother or father has done the same on that same field.”

That first step for many players comes in the Rally Cap program which continues to grow across the province.

Although Smith is still getting his feet wet as Executive Director, he is fully aware of the benefits of Rally Cap and the success it has had in associations who have already implemented the program into their development systems.

“Feedback that I have heard from the past is that the children who attend really enjoy Rally Cap and because of this registration has increased significantly from one year to the next,” said Smith. “Coaches love the program and how it is delivered.

“The program is set up so that every child has an opportunity and at that age that is the most important part, getting an opportunity.”

An event to look forward to this summer is when the Toronto Blue Jays come to town with a Honda Super Camp at Victoria Park in Charlottetown Aug. 8-10.

Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar will be in attendance as an instructor along with former Blue Jays Juan Beniquez, Homer Bush and Duane Ward.

For registration information.

“The province of PEI is most looking forward to the progression of our organization as a whole,” added Smith. “This includes more kids playing baseball as well as the brand of Baseball PEI becoming stronger.”

For more information on Baseball PEI.

Jon Saporsantos single, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs, Ryan Van Spronsen picked up win

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RHP Hatt (Waterdown, Ont.) NCBWA East Region Pitcher of the Year, 7-1 2.08, 18 BB, 56 K in 91 IPs

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Beat Whitby 6-1, Richmond Hill 6-0, Cambridge 7-5, Whitby 6-4 in semi-final, Newmarket 16-15 in final

2013 Top Canadians eligible for draft
2013 Canadians in the Minors 
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