Laurier baseball hopes for better ending in 2018 playoff run
Contributed by: Satbir Singh (@SatbirSingh_)
Waterloo, Ont. – Up until the championship game, everything went right for the Laurier Golden Hawks baseball team in 2017. The Golden Hawks finished the season second in the OUA with 104 runs scored and had the lowest earned run average. It led to a 12-4 finish in the regular season, good for second in the league. Ultimately, they fell to the University of Toronto 8-3 in the championship game.
“We had a pretty experienced team last year,” said head coach Scott Ballantyne. “A lot of veteran players who have played in the league for at least a couple years and our starting pitching was very strong.”
The 2018 season is Ballantyne’s 12th at the helm of the Golden Hawks program. He’s been around Laurier for even longer having played for the Hawks in the early 2000s and was named the team’s most valuable player in 2002/2003. As the coach, the program has finished eight seasons with 10 or more wins under his watch. In 2007, the Golden Hawks were crowned OUA champions and Ballantyne earned OUA Coach of the Year; an award he also captured last season.
“For me it’s a nice honour. It’s a team award and an award all of us coaches share together,” said Ballantyne. “It’s more than one person that leads this group when you have as many players as we do.”
“I think we would trade it in for winning that last game against [the University of Toronto] in the championship.”
Star hitter and fourth-year player Ryley Davenport agreed with his coach. Davenport was named 2017 OUA Hitter of the Year, and although he would trade it in for a championship, he knew the previous season was a huge step forward for him.
“Last year, winning Hitter of the Year was a big deal for me coming off a lackluster second year,” said Davenport about his third season with the Hawks. “I was disappointed in my production. On top of that we were losing key veteran players, so I knew there was that hole to fill.”
Davenport was also named an OUA first-team all-star, along with teammate Robbie Cant. Nick Cook, Ryan Taka and Kyle Symington were named to the OUA second-team all-stars. Taka is the only player to graduate from that list, as everyone else returned for 2018.
The team has since moved past 2017, as they opened the new season with three consecutive wins – two of which came against a strong Brock Badgers team. The Golden Hawks rounded out the 2018 season this past weekend, finishing as the first seed in the OUA with a 13-5 record. However, their journey to the top wasn’t as easy as previous years.
“It’s a testament to how much the league has improved. This year we’ve been facing some of the best pitchers on the other teams and as a result the first game of every doubleheader has been a grind with our good pitching versus other teams’ good pitching,” said Ballantyne. “We’re certainly not happy when we split these games, but we are going in the right direction.”
On paper, the Golden Hawks are a young team, but on the field, they rely heavily on their veteran players.
“We do have a lot of freshmen,” said Ballantyne, who’s roster exceeds 30 players. “For the most part, this is a very veteran team, even more so than it was last year.”
Davenport (4th year), Cant (5th year), Jeff Hunt (6th year), and Keifer Quick (5th year) headline the Golden Hawks batting lineup. Symington (3rd year), Ben Braun (2nd year), Christian Hauck (4th year), and AJ Padmore (3rd year) are the four starters Laurier relies on, with Austin Hussani (4th year) serving as the fifth. The five-man rotation is so strong, Ballantyne says Hussani is a number one or two on almost any other team.
The Golden Hawks have seen a top-two finish in the standings every year since 2014, but haven’t captured the Jason Guindon Trophy since 2013 – the lone banner for the program.
“I don’t think we’ve hit our peak yet. I think we’re still going,” said Davenport. “We’ve got a whole bunch of practices leading into the playoff weekend and I think we are nearing our peak. Hopefully we’ll get there at the right time.”
Laurier heads into the OUA Baseball Championship weekend looking to repeat last year, but rewriting the final chapter with an ending that better suits their goals. And with the new format, the team feels they are set up to do just that.
“We like our chances in the format that we have this year in the OUA Championship with a three-game round robin,” said Ballantyne, highlighting his pitching as the strength again. “We are just going to work over the next week to challenge ourselves to be the best we can be and to be hitting on all cylinders.”
The difference between the past few years and this season is that the top of the OUA standings is crowded with only three wins separating Laurier and the seventh-seeded Western Mustangs.
“Coming into my first year three years ago now, I was pleasantly surprised were OUA baseball was at. I will say, there’s been a huge jump,” said Davenport. “We have [seven] teams contending whereas before it was two or three. Every team seems to have enough pound to win baseball games.”
Ballantyne reflected on the league’s development over his 18 years as a player, assistant coach, and head coach. He stated that every team has at least two good starters, middle-of-the-order hitters, and a lot of speed.
“I’d say for the calibre of players, that it’s the best it has ever been in the league,” said Ballantyne. “As a result, we have to continue to get better every year. It’s a challenge for us and something we put a lot of value in.”
Laurier closed out the season this past weekend with 10-0 and 5-1 wins over Ryerson. With the first seed, the Golden Hawks are placed in Pool A with Queen’s (11-7), Guelph (11-7), and Ryerson (6-12). Pool B consists of Toronto (12-6), Brock (11-5), Western (10-8), and McMaster (10-8); and Pool C will feature Waterloo (2-14), Laurentian (0-14), and Windsor.
The OUA Championship runs from Friday, October 19 to Sunday, October 21 in Ajax.