Canada's tournament ends with defeat in New Zealand

A memorable week for Canada at the WBSC Junior Men's World Junior Championship 2018 ended one day earlier than planned

The host team saw its medal hopes disappear Saturday Rotary Field Night "

" It's stingy for the moment, "said Troy Kosmynka, a Canadian first baseman and Warman native. "We played hard and we fought until the end, we got close to the end but we could not do it."

"We could not bury our opportunities to score. It was a good week, but it was not the result we wanted.

Canada to finish fourth place, one place behind bronze medal in Midland, Michigan,

A host country has not reached the podium since Argentina on its soil in 2012.

"We went 6-2 for the week and the guys competed wrdell," said Canada coach Jeff Ellsworth. They came to play every night, but it did not work in our favor. "

As they had made a night earlier against Australia, Canada managed to get runners on the base in the opening innings but was not able to Bring someone home.

"It's just the nature of the beast," Ellsworth said. "It's not an easy skill to make shots at the right time, and it was an Achilles heel for our two playoff defeats."

After leaving a pair of runners at third base in the first two frames, New Zealand's Harrison Valk hit a hat-trick of RBI and Kaleb Rona drove Valk home with a single.

In the fourth inning, New Zealand doubled its lead over a ball pbaded while Kody Clueard was safe after colliding with Canadian reliever David Watson and Seth Gibson was able to beat receiver Brendan Hagerman. 19659003] Ellsworth appeared to argue with the referees, but the starting points allowed the Kiwis to take the lead 4-0

"There was a difference of opinion but I can not too much." expand on it, it'll get me into trouble. "Ellsworth smir ked.

Valk continued his impressive evening early in the fifth when he shot solo to the left field to give his team a five-point cushion.

"I had a terrible match against Japan on Friday so I" I was not quite sure it was a home run when I hit it. I looked up and saw that the ball was high and I thought it would end up being a fly pop, but it ended up going over the fence. "

Canada was going to score two points from Isaac Lefebvre in the sixth inning, but that would be as tight as they would because they were not able to take advantage of it. 39th momentum since their 6-4 win against Argentina earlier in the day

. "Both teams played well … but they were just a little better tonight."

Jordan Pomeroy and Noah Baker had the other two hits for Canada, while starter Owen Torrie allowed two points and removed three batters in two innings of work.

After sinking 6-4 in Japan on Friday, New Zealand rebounded 8-0 to win Mexico earlier in the day on Saturday and took a revenge action against Canada after losing a battle of 8-5 on Tuesday. "We arrived at the early notice board and we managed to calm the crowd, which we did not do on Tuesday," said Valk

. now. We had some guys jumping here and there for great individual performances, but it was a total team effort.

Valk led the way with three hits and a pair of RBIs, while pitcher Reilly Makea and Joshua Kelly combined for 13 strikeouts.

New Zealand is now preparing for a semifinal with Japan on Sunday at noon, which is a rematch of the match for the 2016 gold medal that Japan won 2-1

Meanwhile, Australia is preparing to face the winner of this game at the championship at 3 pm after winning a 4-2 win over Japan in semifinal Saturday night.

After reaching the podium in 2012 with a bronze medal, Australia is now in the honor of winning its first gold medal since Fourth consecutive title in 2008.

"We lost against Japan a few days ago in That's the round robin, so we're really excited to be able to beat them today and have a chance to win gold, "said the left-field player. Blake Jackson said: "We were lucky on our side, but we used a lot more bats today and I think it was a big difference.

After Japan closed in a race down the sixth inning Jackson helped his team out at the start of the seventh by attempting a solo shot to take back the Australian cushion in two innings.

"Even though Japan was close, the boys on the bench remained focused and ready to go, "Jackson said.

" I had hit their thrower twice (Yugo Kitagawa) on Thursday so I was anxious to have another chance against him. Forward Jeremy Waters helped the Australian striker get off a two-point home run in the third inning and pitcher Shaun Lanaghan. Ayumu Nishimori had a treble in the loss for Japan, which left six riders on the base.

Meanwhile, India ensured a ninth place in the final standings after losing six batters in seven innings of work. winning 1-0 and 4-1 wins over Guatemala and South Africa, respectively, in the placement phases Saturday.

South Africa finished 10th after beating Hong Kong and Guatemala by scores of 5-3 and 10-2. ] Sunday schedule

• 12 noon – New Zealand c. Japan – Rotary Field (Semifinal)
• 15:00 – New Zealand / Japan Win vs.. Australia – Rotary Field (Championship)