Canada hits three homers to down Australia at U18 baseball World Cup

THUNDER BAY, Ont. — Archer Brookman and Michael Stovman hit back-to-back homers in the first inning and Edouard Julien added a three-run shot to power Canada to an 8-2 win over Australia on Tuesday at the under-18 baseball World Cup.

Canada needs to beat winless Nicaragua on Wednesday for a spot in the super round.

“We’re anticipating a scrappy and loose Nicaragua squad so we need to be ready,” said Canadian manager Greg Hamilton. “Hopefully we can come out and put a few runs on the board early like today to take some of the pressure off.”

Canadian starter Jack DeCooman  of North Vancouver, B.C., provided six solid innings, allowing one run on five hits and two walks while striking out three to record the win.

Reliever Cade Smith finished the game, going three innings and giving up one run on four hits and a walk along with one strikeout.

“Jack and Cade were huge for us tonight,” said Hamilton. “We used some pitchers last night that we didn’t necessarily want to use (in a win over Italy) so for Jack and Cade to come out tonight and do what they did gives our pitching options more flexibility moving forward.”

Canada rounded out its scoring in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk and a two-run single from Dondrae Bremner.

The Canadian Press