SEOUL, South Korea — Canada is a win away from playing for gold at the IBAF world junior baseball championship after beating Colombia 10-6 on Thursday for its third victory in a span of 24 hours.
Mitchell Triolo of Toronto hit a three-run triple and Nathan DeSouza of Milton, Ont., followed with a two-run shot during a six-run third that gave the Canadians control of the contest.
They nearly blew a seven-run lead but held off a Colombian rally to take over the second-round standings lead at 3-1, building off a 10-1 thumping of Panama and a 1-0, 10-inning triumph over the United States.
A victory over host South Korea on Friday will send Canada into Saturday’s gold-medal contest.
“I’m really proud of our guys, it’s tough to do at the best of times,” said manager Greg Hamilton. “To have a big emotional win over the US (Wednesday) night and then come back early (Thursday) morning and get back on the horse was tough, but we survived.”
Canada led 7-0 over Colombia through three frames but starter Cal Quantrill of Port Hope, Ont., the son of Paul Quantrill, surrendered a four-spot in the fourth plus singles in the fifth and sixth to tighten things up again.
“They hit their way back into the game,” said Hamilton. “It was one of those situations where Cal let the score affect his energy level on the mound. In that situation you need to take a step back, not look at the score, look at making pitches and slow the game down a bit.
“It was a good learning experience for Cal. He’s a good pitcher and he’ll bounce back.”
A two-run single by DeSouza, a 26th-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays this summer, and RBI base hit by Jesse Hodges of Victoria in the seventh opened up some breathing room, while Travis Seabrooke of Peterborough, Ont., closed things out with 3.2 perfect innings, striking out three.
“That hit was huge, a momentum killer for them and it gave our side a big lift,” Hamilton said of DeSouza’s base hit. “Travis was great. He stayed with it mentally – we had to have an answer coming out of the bullpen or the game was going to go their way.”
