ROGERS — Team Ontario coach Peter Angelow said timing is key for his team's success.
Well, the Canadians made the most of good timing and a some strong pitching in the Premier Baseball National Sophomore Championship on Wednesday afternoon.
Team Ontario got a shutout from Brandon Collins in a 6-0 victory over the Kansas City Sluggers Grey. Collins then went 2-for-4 as the designated hitter and drove in two runs in support of Ryan Forletta in an 8-4 win over Fort Worth Cats Black at Veterans Park.
The two wins put Team Ontario in solid position to advance to the championship side of pool play.
Angelow was very happy with his team's overall performance, but acknowledged not playing until 12:30 p.m. Wednesday following his group's 16-hour trip to get to Northwest Arkansas helped.
"Yeah, we've had the misfortune of playing at 9 a.m. the next day a few times and that doesn't work as well," Angelow said.
Angelow mentioned that his team playing twice one the first day is also a bonus.
"The trip will affect them more the second day really than the first," Angelow said.
Team Ontario got off to a quick start in both of its games Wednesday. It scored four in the first inning against the Kansas City team, then picked up three against the Fort Worth team.
Collins' run-scoring single followed by a two-run double by Jonathon Sartor staked Team Ontario to a 3-0 lead after one inning. Collins added another RBI-single in the second as Ontario added single tallies in the second and third and two more in the fourth to take control 7-0.
Forletta was dominant through the first six innings, allowing a run on just four hits. But he faltered in the seventh and was also hurt by a two-out error, which led to two runs.
The Fort Worth Cats got within 8-4 and had a runner on second base, but reliever John Luke Lamanna came on to get final out.
Eric Stairs and Chase Parten led Fort Worth with two hits each. Stairs also drove in a run and scored twice.