Gees show well at rainy OUA Regionals, but come away winless
The OUA East Regional Qualifiers kicked off in Ottawa on Oct. 6 at RCGT Park as an onslaught of rain blew into the capital region. October baseball in Canada is always fun, isn’t it? There’s a reason why the Toronto Blue Jays play their (hypothetical) home playoff games under a roof.
A round-robin would occur on the Friday between the three competing teams, before the second and third-placed teams would battle on Saturday for the right to play the first place team in the finals.
The Gee-Gees and the Queens Gaels were facing off in the first matchup of Friday, with first pitch going at 11 a.m. With a ball that could barely be gripped by pitchers and fielders alike, there would be no lack of errors and walks. These led to the U of O looking up at a 5-1 deficit on the scoreboard in right field when the stadium’s maintenance personnel finally came with the tarp to put the soaked teams out of their misery at the end of the first inning.
When the game resumed about two hours later, the deficit proved too much for the Gees bats to overcome, though they did try. Runs were scored on a Hassan Ammar infield single in the fifth, and on back-to-back errors by the Gaels second baseman in the seventh, closing the gap to 7-4. But this was as close as the Gees would get, dropping the first placement game to Queens.
The Gee’s next game would be against a familiar foe, the Carleton Ravens. The Ravens took three of four O-Train Series games from the Gees during the course of the season. With Carleton beating Queens handily in the second game of the day, the Gees placement was all but set. They would be playing in the first game the following day.
Due to the continuous rain, the U of O’s game against Carleton was pushed from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Though this was each team’s second game of that day, both were energized and focused. The Gee-Gees had a strong start at the top of the first inning with hits coming from Jerome Murrary, Curtis Bourgeois and Ansh Gosh. The top of the inning ended on a pop fly, with Gee-Gee’s boasting an encouraging three-run lead.
The Ravens were not discouraged by this start, as their dugout was loud with cheers. In the bottom of the first inning, they were able to bring in three runs and tie up the game. These were scored by Patrick Mulligan, Rian Malig, and Jayson Moss-Mceachern. By the end of the inning, the two teams were tied 3-3.
The Gee-Gees took over the top of the second inning and got a crucial three-up three-down. The next few innings were steady, and there were no new runs until the bottom of the fifth when the Ravens had players on second base twice in the inning and they were each driven home by a hit to right field. At the bottom of the fifth, the Ravens had the lead, 5-3.
In the top of the eighth, Tommy Pilkington hit a double and soon later ran home when Keiran Martini-Wong hit a single. The game was getting close and the excitement was heard from the players. With no outs, the Gee-Gees were confident and Evan Atkinson walked, pushing Martini-Wong to second. With Martini-Wong and Atkinson both stealing a base, Colby Frost hit a single, bringing Martini-Wong home, with Atkinson following shortly after, scoring on an error by the catcher. In the bottom of the eighth, the Gee-Gee’s had a slim lead of 6-5.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Ravens tied the game at 6-6 after a double, walk, wild pitch, and groundout. The Gee-Gees shined with six stolen bases and a double play in the game. The Ravens amassed 14 hits and one double play. Both teams were passionate and finished aggressively.
Due to more rain on Saturday, both playoff games were pushed to Sunday, giving all teams an extra day of rest. The game’s location also shifted to Heritage Field in Orleans. Taking the mound for the Gees in their last stand would be ace Max Zentil.
It wouldn’t take long for the Gaels to take another lead against the Gees. Back-to-back errors — which are starting to become a theme in Gaels-Gee-Gees games –- happened once again, but this time it was Gees infielders committing them, in the second inning. These errors allowed two unearned runs to score.
The bats on both sides were quiet until the bottom of the fifth inning when a double scored another for Queens. Then, in the bottom of the seventh, Rowan Radzinski took Zentil deep to center field for the Gael’s third home run of the weekend. An RBI single by Needles scored another, and suddenly the Gees were down 5-0.
But just like their Friday game against Queens, the bats didn’t give up. Nathan Eatmon and Jerome Murray made their way on base with back-to-back singles in the top of the eighth. After a passed ball, Keiran Martini-Wong doubled them home – and they weren’t finished quite yet.
Ansh Ghosh walked, bringing the lineup back around to the top. Then, with two men on and one out, Colby Frost put down a perfect bunt that was overthrown to first. Martini-Wong scored from second on the overthrow, and Frost was scored with a hit for his efforts.
But the comeback would stop there, as Ammar and Curtis Bourgeois flew out to end the inning. And with their season on the line, the Gees went gently into the night the following inning, flying out twice more and striking out looking.
Zentil looked strong in the final game of the year, as he has all season. He went seven strong, giving up three earned runs (though five total), striking out five, and walking just one. The group will look to the second-year next year to again lead the pitching staff. Zentil is expecting big things out of the group next year.
“I think our team improved tremendously in comparison to last year, and we are in an obvious program rebuild. Next year, I expect our team to finish well above .500 and put in a good bid for the OUA ring. We improved on many aspects of our game, especially on the offensive side. Next year, our pitching staff is going to be prepared and hungry to lead our team through regionals and into the final four.”
The Gaels would go on to be overpowered by the Ravens in the regional championship, 10-5. The Ravens lost their semifinal game against Waterloo, but would take the bronze medal over McMaster during the OUA Championship weekend.
