Tyler O'Neill of Maple Ridge, B.C., and Jacob Robson of Windsor, Ont., had four hits each to lead Canada to an 18-8 mercy rule win (seven innings) over Great Britain in their first game of the World Baseball Classic at Chase Field on Sunday.
The 18 runs are the most Canada has ever scored at the tournament. "I'd like to score 18 every game we play," said Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt after the game. "It will make it a little bit easier.
Great Britain, they just kept battling, battling back. "But as Tyler [O'Neill] said, we had some great at-bats. We grinded out our at-bats.
We took our walks. And we capitalized on some of the mistakes they made. So it was nice to see." Edouard Julien (Quebec City) and Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) homered for Canada, while Freddie Freeman (Villa Park), Otto Lopez (Montreal) and Abraham Toro (Longueuil, Que.) had two hits each. WATCH | Canada opens World Baseball Classic with win over Great Britain: Canada also capitalized on a tournament record-tying 16 walks from Great Britain pitchers.