The 91原创 Blaze depth will be tested over the next two weeks.

The U18 baseball team has lost four key members of its squad.

Shortstop Justin Atkinson, third-baseman Dustin Houle, outfielder Jerod Bartnik and pitcher Tom Robson were scheduled to leave  for the Dominican Republic last night (Tuesday).

The quartet were chosen to play for Baseball Canada鈥檚 Dominican Summer League camp, which runs until May 27.

Atkinson leads the B.C. Premier Baseball League with a .480 batting average, while Bartnik is second at .447. Bartnik also has nine RBIs and is second in the league for extra-base hits with seven.

Houle leads the league with 14 RBIs in 15 games.

Robson is 2-2 on the season with an 0.89 earned run average.

He is also tied for the league lead with 42 strikeouts.

Canada is preparing for the Americas world junior qualification tournament in Colombia, which runs Sept. 23 to Oct. 3. The top four teams at that event qualify for the 2012 world junior baseball championships in Seoul, South Korea.