BRADENTON, Fla. - Runs in the sixth and eighth innings weren't enough for the stars and stripes as the 18U National Team suffered its first loss of a seven-game friendship series against Canada on Tuesday, dropping a 3-2 contest at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Florida. Team USA falls to 4-1 in the series with the loss.

Canada jumped out to an early lead that the U.S. offense couldn’t overcome with two runs in the top of the second. Team USA finally broke onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth and added a second run in the bottom of the eighth with Elijah Green’s (Windermere, Fla.) fourth home run of the series. But Canada’s insurance run in the top of the eighth proved to be the difference and the stars and stripes fell, 3-2.

Green, Paxton Kling (Roaring Spring, Pa.), Walker Jenkins (Oak Island, N.C.), and Termarr Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) were responsible for Team USA’s four hits in the game. Druw Jones (Suwanee, Ga.) and Green each collected an RBI in the loss while Blake Mitchell (Sinton, Texas) scored a run and drew two walks.

Kade Anderson (Madisonville, La.) got the start for the red, white, and blue and suffered the loss in the contest after allowing two runs on three hits and one walk in three innings of work. The southpaw also struck out five batters in the game. Canada’s Reece Usselman earned the win with his two innings of scoreless relief in which he gave up just one hit while Jordan Woods earned the save.

Key Moments

• Canada opened the scoring in the contest with a two-RBI triple by Tyrus Hall that gave the team a 2-0 lead in the top of the second.
• Team USA got its first run of the game in the bottom of the sixth when Mitchell drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on a wild pitch and an RBI groundout from Jones to cut the deficit in half and make it a 2-1 game.
• Canada answered with an insurance run in the top of the eighth after a leadoff walk came around to score on an RBI single by Josh Jones.
• Green led off the bottom half of the eighth with an immediate response of his own, launching a solo, 430-foot home run over the left field fence to cut Canada’s lead back down to one.
• Oliver Santos (Newport Coast, Calif.) came on in relief to shut down the Canadian offense in the top of the ninth, but Team USA couldn’t get anything going in the bottom half and Canada claimed the 3-2 win.

Notable Information

• With his single in the second inning, Paxton Kling (Roaring Spring, Pa.) now has a five-game hit streak, having recorded at least one base knock in every game of Team USA’s seven-game friendship series against Canada so far.
• Green leads all batters in the series with four home runs after his longball on Tuesday. He has hit all four in the last three games.
• With three dingers in the last two games, Green now leads both teams in longballs in the series.
• Seven of the eight U.S. home runs in the series have traveled over 400 feet, with Green’s 456-foot bomb on Monday leading the way.
• Johnson leads Team USA in walks with seven so far in the series. Guidry has the second-highest mark with five through four games.
• U.S. pitchers Anderson, Michael Kennedy (Troy, N.Y.), and Santos combined to strikeout 12 batters in Tuesday's contest.

On Deck

• September 8: USA vs. Canada (1:00 p.m. EDT; Bradenton, Fla.; Pirate City)
• September 9: USA vs. Canada (2:00 p.m. EDT; Bradenton, Fla.; LECOM Park)

Social

• Stay tuned to @USABaseball18U on Twitter for the most up-to-date news about the 18U National Team.