Banner Season: Guelph. Brock pick up two wins to lead their pools after day one

Ajax, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons played upset on two occasions on day one of the OUA baseball championships at the Ajax Sportsplex, while second-seeded Brock takes control of Pool B with big wins over Toronto and Western.

Guelph, the fifth overall seed entering tournament play, was able to edge out the Queen’s Gaels 6-4 in their first game of the day thanks to a three-RBI game from Paul Neophytou who finished 2-3 at the plate with a triple and a single. The story of the day, however, was Gryphons shortstop and closer Connor Mitchell. Mitchell went 1-4 with a run and an RBI in the win and was called upon to close out the win in the 7th inning pitching an inning with two strikeouts to preserve the win.

In their second game of the day against the top seed Golden Hawks, Mitchell again was a strength for Guelph at the plate going 2-3 with three runs and an RBI. He then got the call to preserve the lead and after loading the bases struck out the final batter for the 10-8 win over the top-seeded Laurier Golden Hawks.

Laurier sits at 1-1 for the tournament after a morning win in convincing fashion 9-1 over the Ryerson Rams. After the Gaels fell in their opening matchup to Guelph they were able to bounce back with a victory over the Rams themselves walking off with a bottom of the seventh with an RBI single from David Hodge.

In Pool B action the Brock Badgers were able to start off the morning with a win thanks to an impressive pitching performance from Matthew Foster who struck out 14 Marauders over a full seven innings in the 7-3 victory. Another tough test came in the afternoon as the Western Mustangs, fresh off a tough 4-3 loss to defending champions Toronto, were back on the diamond for their second straight game. The Mustangs had the Badgers offence shut down until the sixth inning when Brock erupted for eight runs in a game where their two, three and four hitters went a combined 8-16 at the plate.

Toronto (1-0) and McMaster (0-1) each played just one game and will look to add a pair of wins on Saturday.

In Pool C play, all three teams currently sit at 1-1 as Windsor defeated Waterloo, Laurentian defeated Windsor and Waterloo took down Laurentian in the day’s finale.

The action kicks off Saturday morning at 9 am as Guelph looks to move to 3-0 against Ryerson.

Full game statistics are available here.

Standings after Day 1