MLB

• Wick's two home runs power Canada over Italy

  
  

  By Dan Toman, Contributing Editor Thunder Bay, ON (Sports Network) - With upsets aplenty and coming off a scare of their own, Team Canada wasn't taking any chances against an overmatched Italian squad in the quarterfinals of the World Junior Baseball Championships.

  A day after nearly losing to a winless Czech Republic team, coach Greg Hamilton made sure his team treated their matchup as if it was the last game they would play.

  "We tried to take a business-like approach," said Hamilton, after his team eliminated Italy with an 11-1 thrashing on Friday night. "I think everybody realizes what's at stake.

  "That game [versus the Czechs] served as an eye opener, it served as a lesson and I think we took the lesson well." One player taking notes was outfielder Rowan Wick, who entered the game just 5- for-17 for the tournament with no home runs and two runs batted in.

  The left-handed hitting slugger changed that in a hurry, evident by the rocket shot he lined over the right field fence in a five-run first inning that buried the Italians in a flash.

  "You want to get out early," said Hamilton. "You want to take away any life that they might have or any enthusiasm that they might have out of the equation.

  "It makes it a whole lot easier when you get some runs on the board early." Wick added another homer in the fifth, finishing the game 3-for-4 with four RBI and more importantly, a hot bat heading into championship weekend.

  "He's a guy that we really counted on coming through the process, a guy we felt would be a key contributor," said Hamilton of the North Vancouver, B.C. native.

  "He was struggling a little bit as we went through our tour [pre-Worlds] but he's really starting to dial it in, he's locked in and he's swinging the bat really well.

  "He's a guy that can turn a game around with one swing." Wick got some help along the way from a team that appears to be clicking at just the right time.

  Backed by an impressive outing from Jonathan Pacquet (1-0), who breezed through six innings of one-run ball, Team Canada is now one step closer to its second world junior title.

  Pacquet was dominant against an Italian squad that didn't stand much of a chance against the towering 6'4", 193-pound righthander from Ancienne Lorette, Que.

  "I had good control of my pitches," said Paquet. "I went straight at these guys." After surrendering a pair of singles in the first, Pacquet cruised through Italy's lineup en route to nine strikeouts while scattering four hits and walking just one.

  "It was great to pitch an important game like that in the Worlds," he said. "You can't compare that to any other outing I've ever pitched." Andrea Zambelloni (0-1) took the loss for Italy, who now move on to the consolation round after winning a pair of games in round robin play and proving to be a formidable opponent. The 6'2" righthander allowed six runs -- two earned -- on six hits over four innings.

  Ajax's Philip Diedrick continued his impressive showing during the tournament, driving in another three runs to bring his team-leading total to 10.

  Brandon Dailey of Brantford, Ont. hit a solo home run in the seventh to mercy Italy per International Baseball Federation rules.

  Following Australia's ousting of defending champion South Korea earlier in the day and Cuba's thrilling win over the United States, Hamilton is well aware of the path that's been created for his squad in Thunder Bay, Ont.

  But with over 20 years experience in international baseball, Hamilton knows better than to look beyond the day at hand.

  "You got to be ready to play, it's international baseball, it's a one-game shot and on any given night if you're not ready someone will get you."

  07/31 09:38:52 ET