When Scott Thorman was 12 years old he spent a couple of weeks at the Ernie Whitt Baseball Academy.
And camp director Whitt presented Thorman (Cambridge, Ont.) with a player of the week honours and shook the youngster's hand.
Eleven years later in a moment frozen in time, Whitt likely thought of years before as he shook Thorman's hand again after reaching the dugout following a ninth-inning home run against Team USA yesterday at Maryvale, Az.
It was too little, too late for Team Canada which fell 5-2 to undefeated Team USA. Canada finished second in the six-team tournament, which saw the top four finishers advance to the Olympic qualifier in August of 2006 at Havana, Cuba.
Thorman homered off Jim Miller,
RHP Mike Meyers (Tillsonsburg, Ont.) was lights out starting for Canada. Meyers pitched six innings, striking out four, allowing three hits and two earned runs, while not issuing a free pass.
He allowed a first-inning homer to 2B Howie Kendrick to left-centre. Kendrick hit .342 with seven homers and 42 RBIs in 46 games for Double-A Arkansas Travelers.
Canada evened the score in the bottom of the second when Jeremy Ware (Guelph, Ont.) singled to centre and advanced to third on a single by Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.)
Todd Betts (Scarborough, Ont.) singled off the glove of starter Bill Murphy to score Ware.
Team USA went up by a run in the fifth when Brandon Wood doubled to left and after a ground ball out, Wood came across on a scoring fly ball by Jeff Mathis.
RP Eric Cyr allowed a pair of runs in the eighth as Jeff Mathis singled and was bunted to second. Shane Victorino doubled in a run and advanced to third on an error by RF Ryan Radmanovich. From there he scored on a fly ball.
Team USA made it 5-1 when a run against Chris Mears (Victoria, BC) in the top of the ninth as Brendan Harris singled and scored from second when a single to left slipped under the glove of LF Ben Van Iderstine's (Regina, Sask.) and rolled almost all the way to the warning track.
Thorman tried to get Canada back into the game with a solo shot over the wall in right to lead off the bottom of the ninth, but American closer Jim Miller shut the door on the following three batters to pick up the save.
Both teams managed eight hits, with C Russ Martin (Montreal, Que.), Votto and Thorman, each collecting had two hits apiece, while Ware and Betts had the other hits.
The United States, Nicaragua, Panama and Canada advance.
United States 100 010 021 -- 5 8 0
Canada 010 000 001 -- 2 8 2
W: B. Murphy (1-0, 1.50); L: M. Meyers (0-1).
HRs: Kendrick, Thorman.
Team USA
AB R H RBI
Victorino CF 4 1 1 1
Kendrick 2 3 1 1 2
Snyder RF 3 0 0 0
LaHair DH 2 0 0 0
Wood SS 4 1 2 0
Hanson 3B 2 0 0 0
Harris PH-3B 2 1 1 0
Mathis, J C 3 1 2 2
Milledge LF 3 0 0 0
2B: Wood (1, Meyers), Shealy (4, Cyr),
Victorino (1, Cyr), Harris (1, Mears).
HR: Kendrick
(1, 1st inning off Meyers, 0 on, 1 out).
RBI: Kendrick 2 (7), Mathis, J 2 (5),
Victorino (5).
2-out RBI: Mathis, J.
S: Milledge.
SF: Mathis, J; Kendrick.
Team LOB: 4.
Canada
AB R H RBI
Nicholson SS 4 0 0 0
Clapp, 2B 3 0 0 0
Martin, R C 4 0 2 0
Radmanovich RF 4 0 0 0
Thorman, S 1B 4 1 2 1
Ware CF 4 1 1 0
Votto DH 4 0 2 0
Betts 3B 4 0 1 1
Van Iderstine LF 3 0 0 0
BATTING
HR: Thorman, S
(1, 9th inning off Miller, 0 on, 0 out).
TB: Martin, R 2; Thorman, S 5; Ware;
Votto 2; Betts.
RBI: Betts (1), Thorman, S (3).
E: Radmanovich (1, throw), Van Iderstine
(1, fielding).
PB: Martin, R (1).
United States
IP H R ER BB SO
Murphy, W 6.0 7 1 1 1 4
Smith 2.0 0 0 0 0 1
Canada
IP H R ER BB SO
Meyers, L 6.0 3 2 2 0 4
Cyr 1.2 3 2 2 0 2
Mears 1.1 2 1 1 0 0
HBP: Snyder (by Cyr).
Pitches-strikes: Murphy 82-54, Smith 21-13,
Miller 16-12, Meyers 82-55, Cyr 25-18,
Mears 24-15.
Ground outs-fly outs: Murphy 5-8, Smith 4-1,
Miller 2-1,Meyers 4-10, Cyr 1-2, Mears 4-0.
Batters faced: Murphy 25, Smith 6, Miller 4,
Meyers 21, Cyr 9, Mears 6.
Inherited runners-scored: Mears 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Luis Ramirez. 1B: Adrian Johnson.
2B: Shawn Rakos. 3B: Hector Bendiburg.
Weather: 70 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 6 mph, Out to LF.
T: 2:10.
Att: 708.
Scores
Day 1
Team USA 23 Guatemala 0
Canada 3, Nicaragua 0
Panama 17, Mexico 4
Day 2
Team USA 5, Mexico 4
Canada 12, Guatemala 0
Nicaragua 6, Panama 1
Day 3
Canada 15, Panama 5
Team USA 7, Nicaragua 4
Mexico 5, Guatemala 2
Standings
Day 4
Mexico 7, Canada 2
Nicaragua 6, Guatemala 1
Team USA 9, Panama 3
Day 5
Team USA 5, Canada 2
Nicaragua 5, Mexico 2
Panama 6, Guatemala 1
W-L Pct. GB
Team USA 5-0 1.000 -
Canada 3-2 .667 2.0
Nicaragua 3-2 .667 2.0
Panama 2-3 .400 3.0
Mexico 2-3 .400 3.0
Guatemala 0-5 .000 5.0
Individual Stats
Hitting
G AB R H RBI AVG
Sebastien Boucher 2 9 5 6 5 .667
Max St. Pierre 2 8 3 4 1 .500
Stubby Clapp 5 19 3 9 5 .474
Joey Votto 5 20 3 9 2 .450
Jeremy Ware 5 19 6 7 3 .368
Scott Thorman 4 11 3 4 3 .364
Ben Van Iderstine 4 11 0 4 1 .364
Lee Delfino 2 6 2 2 1 .333
Matt Rogelstad 3 6 0 2 1 .333
Russell Martin 3 13 1 4 1 .304
Kevin Nicholson 5 21 5 6 2 .286
Ryan Radmanovich 5 20 2 4 5 .200
Todd Betts 5 21 1 3 1 .143
Doubles: Ware 2, Boucher, Clapp, Delfino,
Rogelstad, St. Pierre, Thorman, Van Iderstine,
Votto.
Triples: Clapp 2, Rogelstad,
Home runs: Nicholson, Thorman, Radmanovich,
Votto, Ware,
Pitching
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
Adam Loewen 1-0 0.00 1 1 6.2 2 0 0 1 8
Jon Lockwood 1-0 0.00 1 1 5.0 0 0 0 1 5
Steve Green 0.00 2 0 2.2 3 0 0 2 4
Chris Mears 2.70 3 0 3.1 3 1 1 0 0
Mike Meyers 0-1 3.00 1 1 6.0 3 2 2 0 4
Aaron Myette 3.00 3 0 3.0 1 1 1 3 3
Chris Begg 1-0 3.60 1 1 5.0 8 3 2 0 2
Scott Mathieson 0-1 4.50 1 1 4.0 6 2 2 2 4
Eric Cyr 6.75 2 0 2.2 3 2 2 2 1
Mike Kusiewicz 10.80 1 0 1.2 3 2 2 1 2
TJ Burton 12.00 3 0 3.0 6 4 4 0 3
