O'Neill HR, pitching of Diamond, Aumont, Molleken give Canucks win, now 2-0
Tyler O'Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) crossing the plate after a home run ... as he did in Taiwan to give Canada a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico, moving to 2-0 in the Premier 12 tourney.
Nov. 11th, 2015
Premier 12: O’Neill powers Canada over Puerto Rico
By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
DOULIU, Taiwan- A scoreless tie in the seventh inning was broken up with one swing of the bat as Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) drove a 2-0 offering into the seats beyond the left field fence for a two-run homer that ultimately led Canada to a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico.
The win puts Canada’s record at 2-0, good for sole possession of first place in Group A at the WBSC Premier 12 with a game against host Chinese Taipei looming tomorrow evening in what should be a hostile environment at Intercontinental Stadium in Taichung.
Canada managed just three hits in the game, but made the most of them to come away on the right end of the scoreboard.
“I knew he was going to throw me a change-up and I was able to put a good swing on it,” said O’Neill of the home run. “I was just looking for one pitch, and I got it.”
Neither team could produce any offence over the first six innings with Canada starter Scott Diamond (Guelph, Ont.) going toe-to-toe with Puerto Rico’s Luis Cintron. Puerto Rico had opportunities to score as they left two runners on in the third and one runner on in both the fourth and fifth innings. Diamond scattered three hits over his five-inning outing and struck out three batters.
“Scotty was great for us (tonight),” said Canada manager Ernie Whitt. “We were looking for him to throw 75 to 80 pitches for us and he was at 80 when we took him out. It was a great effort.”
Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que.) came out of the bullpen for the sixth and worked a scoreless inning before loading the bases on a pair of walks and hit batter to open the seventh. With the corners in, Aumont froze a batter on a breaking ball for a strikeout before getting a ground ball to short that went for a double play to get out of the inning unscathed.
With the bases loaded and a pitcher ready in the bullpen, Whitt stuck with Aumont and had a pretty good reason for doing so.
“In 2009, at the World Baseball Classic, Phil had the bases loaded and struck out the side,” he said. “I have confidence in him and he did a tremendous job to get out of that jam.”
Canada used the momentum to its advantage when they came to the plate as Pete Orr (Newmarket, Ont.) led off the bottom of the inning with a single to right field before O’Neill swatted the home run over the wall in left field to put Canada up by two.
Aumont came back out for the eighth and recorded two quick outs before a walk brought Whitt to the mound. Whitt went with Dustin Molleken (Regina, SK) from the bullpen who got a fly out to left on the first pitch he threw before retiring the side in the ninth to record the save.
UP NEXT
Canada will resume play in Group A tomorrow against host Chinese Taipei (6:35pm CST/5:30am EST) … RHP Shawn Hill (Georgetown, Ont.) is expected to start for Canada … Fans in Canada can watch the game on Sportsnet ONE (5:30am ET with a replay at 3pm ET) … Fans not in the Sportsnet ONE viewing region can view the game at:
WBSC - Premier 12 - 2015
CANADA 2 (2-0), PUERTO RICO 0 (1-1)
at Dou- Liou (Dou-Liou)
PUERTO RICO
ab r h rbi 2b 3b hr bb sb cs hp sh sf so ibb kl gdp po a e
GONZALEZ J cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
LOPEZ ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0
THON 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 5 0
SILVA lf 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SANTOS c 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 7 0 0
MENDEZ rf 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RIVERA L dh 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
PANTOJA dh 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
JIMENEZ 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 2 0
RIVERA J 3b 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
CINTRN p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
AYALA p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FUENTES p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
HERNANDEZ p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
VALENZA p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 29 0 4 0 0 0 0 5 3 1 1 0 0 5 0 2 2 24 14 0
CANADA
ab r h rbi 2b 3b hr bb sb cs hp sh sf so ibb kl gdp po a e
JAMIESON ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 1
ORR 3b 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 0
O’NEILL lf 3 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 0 0
LENNERTON 1b 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 0
TOSONI rf 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
KJELDGAARD dh 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
DEGLAN c 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 5 1 0
GILLIES cf 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
STROMSMOE 2b 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 0
DIAMOND p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
AUMONT p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MOLLEKEN p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 24 2 3 2 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 1 0 7 0 1 2 27 14 1
PUERTO RICO
ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np
CINTRN B. Luis E. L,0-1 6.2 3 2 2 2 5 0 0 0 0 21 23 1 12 69
AYALA S. Jose A. 0.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 7
FUENTES A. Nelvin 0.2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 16
HERNANDEZ R. Gabiel 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 4
VALENZA Nicholas J. 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 6
CANADA
ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np
DIAMOND Scott 5.0 3 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 18 20 3 8 79
AUMONT Phillippe W,1-0 2.2 1 0 0 3 2 0 0 1 0 7 11 1 3 37
MOLLEKEN Dustin S,1 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 3 1 10
Umpires - HP: MENDOZA J(NCA) 1B: GUILLE P(USA) 2B: HIDESHI H(JPN) 3B: CHI H
Start: 18:35 Time: 2:51 Attendance: 335
Weather: Warm Game notes: Scorers - STEIJGER Linda(NED), SANTOS Susana (ESP), DE LEON Andres (PAN) TC - NAGY David (AUS), MEDINA Pedro (CUB)
AYALA faced 1 batter in the 7th.