Juniors Fall Short in Quarters

EDMONTON - In what was predicted to be an even matchup, the fans in the stands got to see exactly that. However the Junior National Team would get the short end of the stick and fell just short as Australia would get an upset victory over Canada by a score of 2-1 in the quarter-final of the World Junior Championship.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Canadians rallied to load the bases, beginning with Michael Crouse (Port Moody, BC) reaching on an error. Follow that up with a single from Carter Bell (Courtenay, BC) and a walk to Carter Morrison (Langley, BC) and that would bring Luke Willson (Lasalle, ON) to the plate with a chance to win it for Canada.

With the count one ball and two strikes on Willson, the pitch from Aussie reliever Jarryd Sullivan seemed to have struck Willson in the shin, which would have brought in the tying run. However the home plate umpire disagreed and Willson would eventually strikeout swinging to end the ballgame.

"I told the umpire that the ball hit me, but he said it didn't," says Willson. "There not much else you can do after that. I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be called out on a questionable call and I ended up swinging over a pitch that dropped down."

It was a tight battle throughout as both starting pitchers would go deep into the game give very little.

Stosh Wawrzasek (Langley, BC) got the start on the mound for Canada and went six and a third strong innings, allowing two runs on six hits, one walk and four strikeouts.

It was a similar line for Aussie starter Justin Erasmus as he would go seven innings, allowing one run on two hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

Australia opened the scoring in the fourth inning, scoring a pair on a single and a sacrifice fly to take the lead 2-0.

Canada responded in the sixth inning when James Kottaras (Markham, ON) came in to score on the sacrifice fly from Lionel Morrill (Edmonton, AB) to cut the lead in half. Unfortunately, that is as close as the Juniors would get.

"They played a good game against us," says Brett Lawrie (Langley, BC). "We lost as a team today, there's no doubt about it. It was their game today and there's no tomorrow in this tournament, so we just have to keep our heads up high and go after it again tomorrow."

"Sometimes in life you play for pride and that's what we have to do," says JNT Manager Greg Hamilton. "We came in here trying to win a medal and we thought we had a legitimate team to do it. We still do, but sometime it doesn't go your way in a 2-1 game and now we have to go out and finish as high as we can and maintain the respect and pride we have in our program."

The Junior National Team will begin their quest to finish in the fifth spot starting on Saturday, August 2 against Puerto Rico. Game time is at 7:00 pm at John Fry Park.

Canada Finishes Sixth at World Juniors

EDMONTON - In the end, the Junior National Team simply ran out of options and nothing seemed to go their way as they would fall at the hands of Chinese Taipei by a score of 11-4 in the fifth place game at the World Junior Championship.

The Canadians were short on pitchers going into this one as all their pitchers would be working on short rest.

It started off well for Canada as they would open the scoring in the first inning on a RBI single from Michael Crouse (Port Moody, BC) to score Lionel Morrill (Edmonton, AB) and give Canada the 1-0 lead.

That would basically be one of few high points for the Canadians in this matchup. Chinese Taipei would get to Canadian starter François Lafreniere (St. Bruno, QC) in the fourth inning on back-to-back solo home runs from Yu-Hseng Chen and Fu-Lin Kuo. Taipei would add another run in the inning to take a 3-1 lead.

Then Taipei would blow it open in fifth inning scoring five runs in the frame on five straight singles and a double to put them ahead 8-1.

Canada would start clawing back in the sixth inning on the two-run double from Luke Willson (Lasalle, ON) to bring in Brett Lawrie (Langley, BC) and Crouse and cut the lead to 8-3.

But that is as close as the Canadians would get in this game as Taipei would add another run in the sixth and two more in the seventh to put it away.

Canada would add one more run in the ninth inning on the RBI double from Ivan Hartle (North Vancouver, BC).

"They found so many holes today that there wasn't much we could do. They hit the ball well," says Lawrie, who was 3-for-4 in this game. "Hats off to them, they swung the bats well today."

"Sixth place isn't the result you want. We were down on our pitching and it makes it tough when you don't have healthy arms," says JNT Manager Greg Hamilton. "We were in tough today. They swung the bats well and we didn't have a whole lot of answers, but I don't want to take it away from them. They swung the bats well and they deserved to win,"

Canada finishes the World Junior Championship with a 5-3 record. The margin for error in this type of tournament is very small and unfortunately for the Juniors, a championship was not meant to be this time around.

"In the end, we lost a 2-1 game to Australia which could've completely changed the complexion of how things finished," says Hamilton. "If the 2-1 ballgame goes the other way, you never know, but that's what it is. It's a small margin in this game from being at the ultimate level of success to being sixth."

The process begins again this coming fall as the Junior National Team will reconvene in Orlando for the Fall Instructional Camp at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex this October. From there a new team will be chosen to complete the quest for gold at the 2010 World Junior Championship, which will be in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Dedrick, a surprise 30th-round draft pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in June's amateur draft, has signed a contract with the organization. He will report to play on the Brewers' Rookie League team in Tempe, Ariz., in two weeks.

Dedrick enrolled at Lipscomb University in Nashville for summer classes after signing a basketball scholarship with the school, but withdrew to consider his options after he was drafted. 'It was a tough decision,' he said.

'I really liked Lipscomb and my coaches. I liked all my teammates. I didn't want to leave those guys.

'I'm just doing what's best for me. It was a great opportunity. I didn't want to pass it up.'

The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder played on a state baseball championship team at Hillcrest as a junior. He was named Player of the Year as a member of The Tuscaloosa News Super Five team in basketball as a senior.

'I was a guy who grew up wanting to be the next Michael Jordan,' he said. 'I fell in love with (baseball) this season.'

Dedrick will start out at third base in the Milwaukee organization, his primary position at Hillcrest, but said he may be moved to the outfield.