St.Catharines, Ont.--- Day 3 of the OUA/OCAA Championship was packed with baseball after Day 2 on Saturday rained out all but 1 of the 3 scheduled games. As a result, Day 3 saw a schedule that ensured 3 games plus the possibility of a 4th in the Championship Final.

First up at 10:00 AM, the St.Clair Saints took on the Laurier Golden Hawks in the winners half of the bracket, both teams having won their opening games of the tournament. With the right to advance directly to the final, the pressure was on the line from the start of the day. Laurier came to the park ready, scoring a whopping 12 runs in the first 3 innings. St.Clair starter Mitch Kramer had a game to forget, allowing 10 earned runs on 8 hits and 4 walks before exiting. At the plate, Laurier's Jonathan Brouse (3-for-3, 3 RBI), Jeff Hunt (2-for-3 2 RBI), and Adam Raithby (2-for-2 3 RBI) did the damage, resulting in a 5 inning mercy rule to take effect and sending the Hawks straight to the final supported by Jordan Petruska's 5 shutout innings allowing just 5 hits and 1 walk with 7 strikeouts.

The next game of the day saw the St.Clair Saints back in action just 30 minutes later in the semi-final, taking on the Brock Badgers for each teams last chance to advance to the finals and play the undefeated Golden Hawks. The Badgers sent LHP Johnny Hutton to the mound while St.Clair countered with Rory Fell. It was a pitcher's duel for most of the game, heading into the 7th and final inning St.Clair held on to a slim 2-1 lead before Badgers right fielder Justin Gideon laid down a perfect suicide squeeze to score Dan Nicoletta from 3rd base and tie the game heading into the bottom of the 7th inning. St.Clair would respond though, striking back on a walk-off single to eliminate the hometown Badgers and advance to the Finals to once again face the Golden Hawks.

Heading into the finals, St.Clair would face the same team that had beat them 12-0 just a few hours before, and would have to beat the undefeated Hawks twice to eliminate them and take the OUA/OCAA Championship, while Laurier would need to win just 1 of 2 to clinch. The game was back and forth throughout as The Saints jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the 1st inning. Laurier responded scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning before the Saints would eventually score 3 runs in the Top of the 6th to take a 6-5 lead before closing it out to preserve a 6-5 victory, a team effort at the plate as Jeff Watkin, Jonathan Valdez, Rory Fell, Chris Horwood and Ryan Kerstens would all record at least 1 RBI while Tyler Lawerence pitched 3.2 innings pitched in relief holding Laurier to just 1 run while recording 5 strikeouts.

The deciding game of the Championship would be St.Clair's 4th consecutive game on the day but they were buoyed by the return of their staff Ace, RHP Kyle Breitner who had previously started against Brock on Day 1 of the Tournament and shut down the Badgers offense. Breitner was all the Saints needed as he threw a complete game 1 hitter allowing just 1 run on 3 walks and 10 strikeouts, giving plenty of time for the Saints offense led by Rory Fell (1-for-3, 2 RBI), Chris Horwood (2-for-4, 2 RBI), and Derrick Fortier (2-for-3, 1 RBI) leading them to a 5-1 Championship Victory, officially crowning them as the Top Collegiate Baseball team in the province.

Tournament Awards:

FInals MVP: Kyle Breitner (7.0 IP, 1 H, 3 BB, 10 K's)

Tournament Top Pitcher: Kyle Breitner (14.0 IP, 19 K's, 5 BB, 1 shutout)

Tournament Top Hitter: Alex Kupchak (.636 AVG, 2 doubles, 4 RBI, 3 runs scored)

The Brock Badgers and Brock University would like to thank all participating teams and all the fans for coming out to what was an extremely competitive weekend of baseball in cold, rainy conditions and congratulate all teams on great performances.

If you missed the game, be sure to check out www.brocktv.ca/live where both Championship games can be viewed in their entirety.