Music: {allcanada} 8-RUN THIRD PUSHES CANADA PAST PANAMA IN PAN AM QUALIFYING

Saturday, October 9, 2010

{allcanada} 8-RUN THIRD PUSHES CANADA PAST PANAMA IN PAN AM QUALIFYING

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Canada opened second-round play at a Pan Am Games qualification tournament Saturday with a 9-5 victory over Panama.

Canada erupted for eight runs in the third inning and added another in the fifth before Panama made the score respectable late in the game.

"There was some intensity at the beginning of the game and that's what we liked," said Canadian Manager Ernie Whitt. "Panama was a pesky team, they kept coming at us. I'm glad the bats came alive for us today."

The top eight teams in the 13-team tournament will advance to the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. The top six also qualify for the 2011 IBAF World Cup. Canada (2-3) will next play the unbeaten Americans on Sunday.

Adam Stern of London, Ont., started the big inning with a bases-clearing double. Jamie Romak of London, Ont., Shawn Bowman of Port Moody, B.C., added homers to put Canada well out in front.

"It's been one of those tournaments where we're one big hit away from breaking it open and that's what we did," Stern said. "We were able to piece together a big inning and a lot of guys came through in the clutch."

Adam Loewen of Surrey, B.C., capped the Canadian scoring with a solo homer in the fifth. Phillippe Aumont of Gatineau, Que., went five innings for the win.

"He threw real well, he threw strikes," said Whitt. "We got what we wanted out of him which was five innings and we were able to save our bullpen a bit."

Relievers Tom Boleska of Burlington, Ont., Trystan Magnuson of Vancouver, Chris Kissock of Trail, B.C., and Jimmy Henderson of Calgary helped close out the win.