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Team Canada was held to three hits by former minor leaguer Z.T. Zink and two other Studs pitchers at the Grand Forks International Tournament. The only Team Canada run came in the sixth inning, when  3B Andrew Firth scored on a single by LF Nick Senior.

Team Canada used six pitchers, who combined to allow only five hits. All three of the Studs' earned runs were at the expense of Sean Hetherington, who got the loss. Miles Verweel pitched two scoreless innings.

Box score and play-by-play

Sheldon McDonald got the best of a pitching duel with former Thunderbird Ashton Florko, and came up one hit batter short of a perfect game at the Grand Forks International Tournament.

The only Oriole to reach base was C Kyle Mace, who was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning. McDonald struck out nine batters. The Orioles didn't get any hard-hit balls. McDonald was locating the ball very well, and throwing a lot of off-speed pitches.

The winning run was scored by 2B Keaton Briscoe, who drew a walk in the third inning, then scored all the way from first on a bad pickoff attempt by Florko. The other Team Canada runs came in the fourth inning. LF Mike Elias hit an RBI single, then scored the third run on an error. DH Graeme Carey hit an RBI triple to complete the scoring.

CF Blake Carruthers went 2-4 for Team Canada. Florko went seven innings, allowed only one earned run on six hits, struck out eight, walked four.

Box score and play-by-play

The Grand Forks International Baseball Tournament will be taking place in Grand Forks, BC in the Kootenays Sept. 1-6. Team Canada, selected and coached by Terry McKaig, will be making the trip again.

Team Canada's first three games:

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 4 PM: Trail Orioles - The Orioles' roster includes three Thunderbird alumni: Brad Ashman, Ashton Florko, and Johnny Yiu. They also have former Lewis-Clark State star Austin Weilep.

Thursday, Sept. 2, 8 PM: Seattle Studs - A semi-pro team that has been around since 1954 (they were originally sponsored by the Cheney Lumber Co., thus the name "Studs"), they won the pennant of the revitalized Pacific International League this season, then were runners-up in the National Baseball Congress tournament. Their roster includes a pitcher the Thunderbirds faced this year, Arlo Evasick of Seattle U.

Saturday, Sept. 4, 5 PM: Victoria Mavericks - Their coaching staff includes Thunderbird alum Gary Tongue.

Team Canada finished fifth in the World University Baseball Championship. Sheldon McDonald didn't repeat his success against Chinese Taipei, got lit up for five earned runs and seven hits in only two-plus innings. Blake Carruthers was 3-6 with a double.

It's USA vs. Cuba in the final at 2 AM Saturday.

Nic Lendvoy hit a three-run home run and batted in one more run, and Blake Carruthers hit a two-RBI double. Eric Brown started, went six innings, allowed three hits, struck out four.

Story from Baseball Canada site: Canada Too Much for China

Canada will play one more game in this tournament, at 8 PM Thursday against Chinese Taipei.

Canada out-hit Korea 8-6. Greg Densem got a hit, but Blake Carruthers and Nic Lendvoy were hitless this time. Brandon Kaye pitched the seventh and eighth innings, gave up two runs. Shawn Hetherington pitched a perfect ninth inning, struck out two of the three batters he faced.

Story from Baseball Canada site: Canada Falls Out of Medal Contention