Rain puts a damper on OUA Week 2
By: Justin Ayles
OUA Baseball Guru
Rain was in the forecast all of last weekend and it struck Saturday with authority. Only one out of ten games were able to get played and it saw the York Lions defeat Queens in a pitching duel between Michael Asta and Will Langford. Sunday was another story, however, and pitching was practically non-existent as teams made up for the rain outs by pouring on runs instead.
The Waterloo Warriors had themselves a doubleheader for the ages. They came into the game splitting both of the previous series but showed that they were capable of a sweep. The Warriors put up an unheard of 25 runs in game one and followed that up with 17. On the pitching side of things, Stephen Gade threw a complete game shutout with seven strikeouts. There were some spectacular statistics from the two ball games. Michael Clouthier hit four towering home runs with 11 RBIs. Waterloo also had five hitters combine to go 24/37 with 30 runs scored and 26 runs batted in! These two performances rewarded them with Team of the Week honours.
The Western Mustangs took care of business on Sunday as they traveled to Kingston for a doubleheader against Queens. Dustin Godden and Ryan Beckett both picked up wins on the mound. Beckett threw six shutout innings. Leading the offense was first baseman Jeff Martin as he went 5/8 on the day with five RBIs. Martin and Turner Spears also went back-to-back to cap off an impressive sweep of the Gaels. Western remains perfect with their four wins on the season.
The Guelph Gryphons faced off against the Ryerson Rams at home and both games were close contests. The Gryphons were propelled by the bats of Mason Copeland and Matt Forer who combined for seven hits in the first game and it was the difference maker against the Rams. It was more of a pitcher’s duel in game two as Liam Rivard for Guelph and Charlie Crabb for Ryerson were both giving their offense a chance to win. It took until late in the game for Gryphons freshman Evan Britt to come up clutch with a two RBI double to take the lead. That hit ended up being the ultimate blow in a great game with a final score of 5-2.
The Brock Badgers travelled to Toronto to face off against the Varsity Blues in a battle of two quite evenly matched teams. Game one went the Blues way as veteran hurler Colin Edwards spun a gem going the distance while only giving up a single earned run. The Blues got timely hitting from Graham Tebbit and Royhei Suzuki. Game Two went in another direction as both teams were battling it out. A few big base knocks by Tyler Nakamura and Cody Malone that cashed in runs played a big role in obtaining the win. A quality start by Badgers Alex Nolan was enough to secure a split in the series.
The Laurier Golden Hawks were up against the McMaster Marauders and game one was an absolute thriller. This game saw Marauders pitcher Kenny Noguchi start off extremely efficient but it took a turn for the worst due to some costly errors behind him. The Hawks capitalized on those mistakes as they belted out two bases-clearing doubles by Jonathan Brouse and Nick Lanutti. McMaster had a few standout performances and they both were from freshmen. Lucas DaSilva had three hits and Giovanni Martino had a bases clearing triple. Game two saw veteran pitcher Jake Tougas throw four great innings for Laurier and that was followed with solid relief appearances. Jeff Hunt, Nicholas Ott, and Dallas Taylor all had two hits apiece and captain Brouse had a four-hit contest. The Hawks were able to complete the sweep and prevent McMaster from earning their first win of the year.
Standings: Week 2
Western 4-0
Laurier 5-1
Brock 4-2
Guelph 4-2
Waterloo 4-2
York 3-2
Toronto 3-3
Ryerson 1-5
Queens 1-6
McMaster 0-6