BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Badgers clinch first in OUA
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock University baseball team (24-3 Overall, 14-1 OUA) defeated the Queen's Gaels by the score of 10-2 Saturday afternoon at George Taylor Field. Game Two of the doubleheader was postponed until Wednesday at 4pm.
Saturday, Oct. 4
Queen's 2 @ Brock 10
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock University baseball team (24-3 Overall, 14-1 OUA) defeated the Queen's Gaels by the score of 10-2 Saturday afternoon at George Taylor Field. Game Two of the doubleheader was postponed until Wednesday at 4pm.
Queen's took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, before the Badgers added four runs in the bottom of the third to take a 4-1 lead. Brock would add six more runs in the final four innings, on route to their league leading 14th win of the OUA regular season.
The Badgers offense combined for 15 hits, led by Ryan Laird who went 4-for-5 with two RBI. Justin Gideon and Chris Anderi both collected three hits each, with Gideon going 3-for-6 with a double, two RBI and two stolen bases and Anderi going 3-for-5 with an RBI. Koddi Quick (1-for-3, 2 RBI), Phil Steer (1-for-4, 2 RBI), Ricky Ferri (1-for-4, SB), Dan Nicoletta (1-for-4, 2 SB) and Quinton Twohey (1-for-4, 2B) all chipped in with one hit each.
Brock rookie starter Dylan Perego picked up his third OUA victory after going seven complete innings allowing one run on seven hits while striking out five. Kyle Taylor and Daniel Phillips both threw one inning each in relief. Taylor struck out three of the four batters he faced while Phillips retired the Gaels in order.
Laurier 8 @ Guelph 5
Laurier 6 @ Guelph 10
GUELPH, Ont. - The Wilfrid Laurier Men's Baseball team split a double header on the road at the University of Guelph on Saturday afternoon. Laurier won the first game 8-5 before dropping the second game 10-6.
The double header split runs Laurier's record to 12-2 on the season.
Game 1: This was a good test for Laurier against a strong Guelph team and Jordan Petruska was up for the challenge. Laurier went ahead early 6-0 and hung on for the win.
Game 2: Laurier got an early lead, but let Guelph right back into the game and then couldn't get a big hit when they needed one.
"Guelph is a strong hitting team," commented Head Coach Scott Ballantyne after the games. "We saw the type of hitters today that we will have to deal with in the playoffs and I have to give them credit for working hard in game two to keep the pressure on us and get the victory. We didn't play our best baseball today, but coming away with a split on the road isn't a bad result."
Other Saturday Scores:
Ryerson 8 @ McMaster 5
Ryerson 6 @ McMaster 5
York 0 @ Waterloo 10
York 0 @ Waterloo 10
Sunday, Oct. 5
Brock 6 @ Laurier 1
Brock 6 @ Laurier 5
The Brock University baseball team (26-3 overall, 16-1 OUA) won both games of the doubleheader over the Laurier Golden Hawks Sunday afternoon at Bechtel Park.
With the two victories, 6-1 and 6-5, the Badgers clinch first place in the OUA standings, and earn a bye in the first round of the OUA Championships being hosted by McMaster University.
In Game One, two of the OUA's best pitchers in Brock's Justin Ayles and Laurier's Brett Van Pelt went head to head. Ayles threw seven strong innings allowng one run on eight hits while striking out five for his sixth victory of the regular season. Van Pelt went 6 1/3 allowing three runs on sixth while striking out six and and walking six in the loss.
Justin Gideon led the Badgers offense going 3-for-5, highlighted by a two-run triple in the ninth. He also added three RBI and three stolen bases. Ricky Ferri (2-for-4, SB) and Blair Gignac (2-for-5, RBI) collected two hits each. Koddi Quick and Ben Kirby both chipped in with RBI singles.
In Game Two, Gideon continued to shine going 3-for-3 with a solo homerun and two stolen bases. He finished the day going 6-for-8 (.750 AVG), with a homerun, triple, four RBI and five stolen bases. Phil Steer was 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and two stolen bases while Quinton Twohey was 2-for-4, with the game winning RBI in the ninth. Adding single hits were Ferri (1-for-4, RBI), Ryan Laird (1-for-4) and Marcus Beal (1-for-3).
Phil Owen picked up the victory after coming in relief in the fifth inning. He threw 2 1/3 innings allowing no runs on one hit while striking out two.
Other Sunday Scores:
McMaster 3 @ Western 6
McMaster 0 @ Western 11
Ryerson 8 @ York 4
Ryerson 6 @ York 2
Waterloo 10 @ Toronto 9
Waterloo 3 @ Toronto 9
Queen's 2 @ Guelph 12
Queen's 3 @ Guelph 8