BSB | Voyageurs Battle but Come Up Short at Regionals
The baseball team headed to Brampton for the weekend to battle in the OUA Central Regional with a spot at the OUA Championship on the line. After coming out on the wrong side of a couple of tight games, eliminating them from contention, York sent the team home with an 0-3 record on Saturday afternoon.
Game 1 saw a battle of blue and gold as the Voyageurs squared off against the TMU Bold. After a back and forth affair saw the teams head into the 5th knotted at 2, a costly Noah Casault error with two outs in the inning allowed the Bold to eventually push four runs across the plate and take a 6-2 lead. The Voyageurs continued to battle and scored in each of the next two innings, including an Ethan Murdy two-run home run, to head into the 8th down 6-5. However, in the bottom of the inning, the Bold got to Brayden Grech to the tune of four runs and added one more off of Nich Verbeek to take an 11-5 lead into the 9th. In the top of the 9th, The Voyageurs scored two and had runners on first and second with nobody out when the lights went dark due to city bylaws. The teams were forced to pick things up on Saturday morning and when play resumed, the Voyageurs were able to plate one more run but the momentum from 10 hours earlier had faded and the team fell by an 11-8 score. Ryan Lacasse struck out seven over 4 2/3 innings while giving up 6 runs, 2 earned, in defeat.
Immediately following the end of game 1, the team was back on the field against the Toronto Varsity Blues in a must-win game. The Voyageurs opened the scoring in the top of the 2nd when Jacob Lariviere singled in Lacasse. The Varsity Blues tied things up in the bottom of the 4th and then took the lead in the bottom of the 5th with a two-run single. Andrew Weber homered in the top of the 7th to pull the Voyageurs within one however the team could only muster one base runner over the next two innings, falling 3-2 and dashing their hopes of playing in the finals. Callum Belshaw struck out seven over 5 innings, giving up 3 earned runs in the loss.
In the final game of the Regional, with nothing but pride on the line, the Voyageurs squared off against the York Lions. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead through three innings, things unraveled in the 5th. With two out in the frame, Ben Baydock walked in a runner before a Casault error led to another four runs and a 5-3 lead that would not be relinquished by the Lions as they cruised to a 16-4 win. Five pitchers toed the rubber for the Voyageurs, with Baydock getting saddled with the loss after allowing five runs, only one earned, and striking out four in 3 1/3 innings. In fact, only seven of the 16 Lions runs were earned thanks to six errors committed by the Voyageurs.
The loss officially brings the season to a close for the Voyageurs.