Three IBL Players to Suit up for Pan Am Games

CAMBRIDGE – The Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) today is pleased to announce that three current players and one former player will suit up for their respective countries for the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru later this month.

Current players Chris Leroux (Toronto), Jasvir Rakkar (Kitchener) and Yoennis Yera (Kitchener) have been selected to join this years games along with former Burlington Twin Connor Panas.

Leroux, a six-year MLB professional is no stranger to the Pan Am Games, winning gold in the 2015 games in Toronto. Chris, now suiting up for the Toronto Maple Leafs, currently holds a 0.87 ERA in five games played with eleven strikeouts and three walks. Chris is also a Member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2017.

Rakkar will also join Leroux on the Canadian Squad, and also is no stranger to the game winning the 2015 Championship along with Chris. In eight games played with Kitchener, Rakkar has recorded a 3.53 ERA with twenty-eight strikeouts and five walks over twenty-eight innings of work.

Yoennis Yera will join the Cuban National Team after spending his summer with the Kitchener Panthers along side Rakkar. Yera, an 11-year veteran with the Matanzas Crocodiles in Cuba's national league, pitched on the Cuban team that took bronze in the 2015 tournament tournament.

Panas, a former member of the Burlington Twins/Bandits, will suit up for the Canadian team for the first time in his career.

The Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) is the top level baseball league in Ontario, boasting ex-major league professional and elite NCAA college baseball players. The 2019 season will mark the IBL’s 101^st in operation. The IBL is the fifth longest continually operated baseball league in the world and serves as a valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff. More than 40 IBL players have advanced to Major League Baseball or returned to the IBL following their MLB careers. The league is comprised of teams from Barrie, Brantford, Kitchener, London, Toronto, Guelph, Welland and Hamilton. For more information, visit www.theibl.ca.