AROUND OUA: Brock head coach Jeff Lounsbury records 500th career victory

SCOREBOARD

Brock 7 @ Waterloo 3

Toronto 6 @ Western 0

Toronto 3 @ Western 2

Guelph 3 @ Laurier 4

Brock head coach Jeff Lounsbury records 500th career victory

WATERLOO, Ont. - The Brock University baseball team (21-5 overall, 12-2 OUA) defeated the Waterloo Warriors by the score of 7-3 Tuesday night on the road.

Brock head coach Jeff Lounsbury hit a career milestone Tuesday night as he recorded his 500th career victory in his 20 seasons at the helm. Lounsbury becomes just the second coach at a Canadian school to record 500 career wins, joining UBC's Terry McKaig.

Lounsbury's career record now stands at 500-232-5 (.682 winning percentage). While at the helm, Lounsbury has led the Badgers to two CIBA National Championships (1998, 1999) and four OUA Championships (2002, 2004, 2010, 2014).

"My 500th career victory is a great testament to the strength of our baseball program over the past 20 years," said Lounsbury. "I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to coach so many great student-athletes. Without the commitment from all the players, the coaching staff and the trainers, this milestone would not be capable of achieving, and for that I thank all those who have made Brock Baseball what it is today."

The Badgers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Justin Gideon (Pickering, Ont.) hit a two-run homerun and rookie Noah Koffman (Richmond Hill, Ont.) belted a three-run homer, for the first of his career. Dennon Koziol (Hamilton, Ont.) secured the win with a two-run double in the seventh.

Gideon finished the night going 3-for-3 with a single, double and homerun. Single hits went to Koffman, Koziol, Ricky Ferri (St. Catharines, Ont.) and Ben Kirby (Burlington, Ont.).

Alexander Nolan (Burlington, Ont.) picked up the win after throwing three shutout innings allowing one hit with three strikeouts. Brock closer Phil Owen (Richmond Hill, Ont.) came on late throwing 1 2/3 innings of shutout ball for his 20th career save.

Source: Brock Badgers

Golden Hawks walk off Gryphons

The Wilfrid Laurier Men's Baseball team completed a suspended game with the University of Guelph Gryphons on Tuesday night at Bechtel Park in Waterloo.  Game two of the double header from Saturday was suspended in the top of the 5th inning when the rain caused the field to be unplayable.  The game was suspended with the score 3-1 Guelph with runners on 2nd and 3rd base, 2 out and 3-2 count on the batter.

When the game resumed on Tuesday night, Laurier called on reliever Jake Tougas to get the team out of a tight spot.  With a 3-2 count on the batter, Tougas walked him to load the bases.  He got the next batter to hit a broken bat ground ball to shortstop that Cal Murphy made a great play on to end the inning and thwart the Guelph rally.  The Golden Hawks responded with back to back hits by Jeff Hunt and John King to start their half of the 5th inning.  Hunt scored on a sacrifice fly by Jonathan Brouse to make the score 3-2.  Both teams were scoreless in the 6th inning and Tougas worked around a 2 out walk in the 7th inning to set up some drama at Bechtel Park.  

Daniel Apostoli led off the bottom of the 7th inning as a pinch hitter and reached on an error.  With one out, Jeff Hunt and John King both walked to load the bases.  A wild pitch scored Apostoli to tie the game at 3.  With 2 out and the bases loaded, Brett Medland worked the count full and eventually drew a walk-off win to give the Golden Hawks a 4-3 victory and sweep of the double header.

Tougas gets the win in relief of starter Andrew Ziedins.  Hunt led the way offensively as he was 2 for 3 with 3 runs scored and a stolen base.  Brouse had 2 RBI.

"This was a unique experience in that we had a short night tonight to finish up this suspended game," commented Head Coach Scott Ballantyne.  "Tougas made a great pitch to get the ground ball with the bases loaded and Cal made a heck of a play to end that rally and give us a chance.  Hunt was our leader offensively as he set the table at the top of the order with 3 runs scored.  This was a great team win for us as we continue to build towards the post season."

Laurier will travel to Jack Couch Park in Kitchener on Wednesday to pick up yet another suspended game against the University of Waterloo Warriors.  Back on September 19th the teams got into the top of the 5th inning with the game tied at 4-4 when the rains came and washed out the double header.  Game one will be resumed in the bottom of the 5th inning at 6:30pm with game two to follow.

Source: Laurier Golden Hawks