Banner Season: Golden Hawks dig deep on the diamonds for second straight baseball banner
Ajax, Ont. (via Waterloo Warriors) - For the second straight year the Laurier Golden Hawks walked off their opponent en route to a OUA Baseball title, this time around though it was one game earlier. The Hawks earned a come from behind, 10-7 walk-off win over the McMaster Marauders in the OUA semifinals and followed it up with a dominating performance in the gold medal contest, topping Carleton 12-1 to earn their second straight banner.
Ryley Davenport hit a three run shot in the bottom of the ninth to cap the comeback win over Mac, sending his team off to championship tilt with the Ravens who earlier in the day earned two 1-run wins, beating Queen's 4-3 in the OUA quarter-finals and then Windsor 7-6 in the semis.
As fate would have it, Davenport would again go yard, this time in the first inning of the championship game that saw the Hawks run the tally up to 12 runs. Second baseman Chad Meyer also had himself a game with five RBI's, including a three-run bomb that put his side up 7-0 through two innings. The Golden Hawks cruised the rest of the way against a tired Carleton team who had played three games on Championship Sunday, and the game was called on a mercy rule after seven.
On the mound, Ryan Douglas was the winning pitcher going five strong, allowing five hits and just one run while striking out nine. Christian Hauck did the rest allowing no hits and just one walk while striking out five in two innings of work.
In total the Golden Hawks put up 19 hits and 22 runs in their two Sunday games to earn the OUA Championship Banner for a second straight year.
2019 Major Award Winners
Most Valuable Player - Nik Motruk, McMaster; Ryan Burnside, Carleton
Rookie of the Year - Daniel Bertrand, Carleton; Jacob Prsa, Windsor
Top Pitcher - Christian Hauck, Laurier
Most Valuable Hitter - Mik Motruk, McMaster
Coach of the Year - Scott Ballantyne, Laurier
First Team All-Stars
C - Ryan Burnside, Carleton
1B - Anthony Fera, Ryerson
2B - Chad Meyer, Laurier
3B - Gabriel Nakonechny, Toronto
SS - Daniel Betrand, Carleton
OF - Nik Motruk, McMaster
OF - Mackenzie Strong, Waterloo
OF - Michael Deluca, Toronto
DH - Michael Ong, McMaster; Matt Ferro, Windsor
SP - Christian Hauck, Laurier
RP - Max Dieks, Ryerson; Noah Pickering, Windsor
Second Team All-Stars
C - Connor Patterson, Laurier
1B - Chris Iltshishin, Waterloo
2B - Kody Anton, Laurentian; Anthony Fehr, Windsor
3B - Keith McGregor, Windsor
SS - Stephen Whalen, Waterloo
OF - Jacob Prsa, Windsor
OF - Tyler Gysbers, Laurentian
OF - Andrew Ciuffreda, Ryerson
DH - Danny Mahoney, Laurier
SP - Nate Van Putten, Carleton
RP - Riley Hoover, Laurentian
