McFarland: Saskatchewan captures bronze at Canada Summer Games

The Saskatchewan 17U team captured bronze at the 2025 Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, Nfld. Photo: Baseball Saskatchewan

*This article was originally published on Saskatchewan Dugout Stories on August 26. You can read it here.

August 28, 2025

By Joe McFarland

Saskatchewan Dugout Stories

Some were calling it “the pool of death.”

Pool ‘A’ for men’s baseball at the Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador featured a few juggernauts including B.C., Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec.

Then there was Saskatchewan.

Despite winning gold in 2017 and bronze in 2022, the province is still thought of, by some, as an underdog of sorts.

No one apparently told the prairie province’s contingent about it, as they steamrolled Alberta in their opener, eventually claiming the bronze medal with a win over Prince Edward Island.

“As a smaller province, this is a big accomplishment for us – to be able to compete against those four other provinces who have a much bigger talent pool to pick from – gives us a sense of pride,” Baseball Sask head coach Greg Brons told Saskatchewan Dugout Stories.

“We always wanted to stay with the ‘A’ pool and now I think we should adjust our goals and medal every year.”

It was a lesson in resilience from a team that was extremely proud to bring home some hardware.

START WITH A BANG

Entering the Canada Summer Games, Brons says his message to the team was simple: believe in yourselves.

In preparing to go into four tough round-robin games, he says they didn’t focus much on the other teams.

“I told them that, for tournaments like these, metrics don’t matter,” Brons said.

“We don’t care how hard you throw, how fast you run, or how hard you hit the ball, the best players on the diamond are the ones who believe in themselves.”

It’s counter-intuitive given the attention that exit velocities and spin rates get nowadays, but the dugout boss wanted to instill a team-first mentality.

And it paid immediate dividends as Saskatchewan opened the tournament with a convincing 8-1 victory over Alberta, thanks to a combined three-hitter from Brandt Spencer and Landon Hebig.

“We were prepared,” Brons said about going into the Games. “For the most part, the players seemed calm, knew they belonged and could compete with teams in the ‘A’ pool.”

They followed that up by facing a team they would get to know a lot over the coming days, Quebec, scoring eight runs in the first inning and cruising to the 10-6 triumph.

ROUGH ROAD AHEAD

Team Saskatchewan’s faced its first stretch of adversity in the nightcap of their day-two double-bill.

Against Ontario, they racked up three errors and walked five batters in a 10-5 loss, where they actually out-hit their opponents 9-5.

Looking to put the loss behind them, they ran into the hot hand of B.C. pitcher Dylan De Meyer, who twirled a complete-game two-hitter to hand Saskatchewan a 2-0 loss.

“We made some mistakes during the tournament but nobody was distracted or let it affect them making the next play,” Brons said.

His squad finished out the round-robin by facing Quebec again, which ended in dramatic fashion.

With Pryor Dyck on second base and two out in extra innings and their opponents leading 7-6, Reese Brons and Cade Britz worked walks.

Outfielder Trentin Kooy (Saskatoon, Sask.) helped Saskatchewan win bronze at the Canada Summer Games. Photo: Baseball Saskatchewan

Joshua Gutek cashed in Dyck with an RBI single then, with the bases still loaded, Kilshaw was hit by a pitch to walk it off.

The win gave Saskatchewan a 3-2 record and a berth in the semi-finals.

SACREBLEU

Little did they know, Saskatchewan wasn’t quite done with Quebec.

Their rivals still had a spot in the quarterfinals and had a dramatic win of their own up their sleeve against Alberta.

In a similar situation with the bases loaded and a chance for a walk-off in extras, a sacrifice bunt by Maxime Lamarre gave Quebec the 4-3 victory and another shot at Saskatchewan.

The eastern opponents scored early and often en route to a 9-4 victory to secure a spot in the gold medal game while Saskatchewan would have to face P.E.I. for bronze.

After going 5-0 in the round-robin, P.E.I. was shutout by B.C. in the semi-final to suffer their first loss.

Fans were treated to a back-and-forth affair with the two teams trading runs in the first two innings before Aidan Marien and Britz drove in runs in the third to put their team up 4-2.

From there, both teams relied on the complete-game performances from their starters, Saskatchewan’s Mitchell Rauckman and P.E.I.’s Richard Osoteo.

“What worked for me was getting ahead early and competing,” said the Going Yard Academy product.

“I was able to get strike one every time and that set me up really well for the rest of the at-bats – being able to attack and not giving the other team too much credit while trusting my teammates on defence.”

No other runners crossed the plate for either team, and Saskatchewan claimed the bronze medal.

A CERTAIN SHADE OF GREEN

Once the celebration was over and the bronze medals were draped around each player’s necks, they were able to soak in the moment.

Rauckman finished the day allowing just two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five batters.

“Being able to wear that Saskatchewan jersey and being able to bring home a bronze medal is something I’ll always remember,” said the Saskatoon native.

“It was special to do it with such a great group of teammates and coaches as well.”

Marien, who was brought in as an over-ager, says he will never forget the win or the event as a whole, as they were able to watch different sports and see their fellow Saskatchewan athletes perform on a big stage.

“Being from Saskatchewan, we’re always counted out,” said the Berries Academy first baseman. “To be able to make a medal game was incredible but to be able to beat a hot team like P.E.I. and win a bronze is something me and the guys will honour for the rest of our lives.”

It was a particularly special win for Brons, who says it will likely be his last time coaching at the Canada Summer Games.

He’s proud to have been at the helm for all three medal-winning teams, and to have seen the pipeline in Saskatchewan grow with everyone pulling in the same direction.

“I rely on the baseball academies in Saskatchewan to develop players and the club system to give them good competition and a sense of playing for a provincial title,” Brons said. “The Team Sask program supplements this with providing competition outside of the province that gives our players what they need to have skill-wise.”

The long-time coach says he’s lucky to have a board that puts its trust in him, while athletes are realizing that staying in Saskatchewan instead of chasing the dream in other places might not get them the results they are looking for.

“It all comes down to bang for your buck and I think, in Saskatchewan, we can develop players in our system and they don’t have to leave,” Brons says. “But I get it – ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ – but it ain’t Saskatchewan green.”

In fact, the grass seemed to have a bronze tinge in 2025.