Can-Am Ottawa Champions

Champions Beat Shikoku Island 5-2 for 200th Franchise Win

July 3, 2019 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Ottawa Champions News Release


OTTAWA - Jared Mortensen struck out a season-high eight batters and Steve Brown went 3-for-5 with a triple and an RBI on Wednesday as the Ottawa Champions beat Shikoku Island 5-2 for the 200^th win in franchise history. Mortensen (3-2) went seven innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits while Leonardo Reginatto had two RBI and added a triple of his own.

Champions manager Sébastien Boucher said that he chatted with Mortensen on Tuesday and was happy to see a strong start as a result of that conversation.

"He seemed like he had a really good plan against them and he came in today and executed it," said Boucher. "He knew exactly what he wanted to do and he did it. Whenever you have command of your pitches and you can follow your plan you're going to have a good night."

Mortensen noticed that Shikoku swing better at off-speed pitches than the teams he normally faces in the Can-Am League and used that to his advantage.

"When I throw the curveball or the slider, it's more of a show pitch to show them that I can slow them down," said Mortensen, "whereas the rest of the league we can kind of pitch them pretty traditional. With these guys it's a little different because they do stay through a ball for a long time with their swing style and their approach."

Reginatto hit a single to right center in the top of the ninth that scored two runs and put the game out of reach for Shikoku Island.

Hayato Hirama put Shikoku Island on the board after a triple to the left field gap put him in scoring position. Katsuya Shirakata grounded into a 6-3 putout the next at-bat to allow Hirama to reach home.

Brown hit an RBI triple that just barely stayed in the park in the top of the third that drove in Malik Collymore from second to make it 2-0 Champions. Brown scored later in the inning on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.

Ottawa goes for the sweep in what will be Shikoku Island's final game of their international series Thursday at RCGT Park. Austin Chrismon will be on the mound for the Champions and the first pitch will be at 7:05 p.m.

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Canadian American League Stories from July 3, 2019


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