TORONTO, Ont. - The Brock University baseball team (6-1 overall) opened the OUA regular season with an 11-9 victory over the defending OUA Champion Toronto Varsity Blues on the road Wednesday afternoon.

Senior righthander Justin Ayles (Brampton, Ont.) got the start and threw five complete innings for his 14th career victory as a Badger. Ayles allowed four runs (one earned) on one hit while striking out three. He also gave up three walks and hit three Varsity Blues players.

With the win, Ayles moves into a tie for 5th all-time with Brock Baseball Hall of Famers Stefan Strecker (1998-03) and Greg Arbour (1998-00) who both registered 14 career victories.

In relief,  freshman Kyle Taylor (Ajax, Ont.) gave up one run on two hits while striking out one over one inning of work. Sophomore Phil Owen (Richmond Hill, Ont.) pitched the final three innings for the save giving up four runs (two earned) on five hits while striking out three.

Offensively, the Badgers collected 14 hits led by newcomer Phil Steer (Scarborough, Ont.) who went 3-for-4 with a double and stolen base. Junior Ricky Ferri (St. Catharines, Ont.) (2-for-6, 2RBI), sophomore Ben Kirby (Burlington, Ont. (2-for-4) and freshman Dan Nicoletta (Newmarket, Ont.) (2-for-5) all contributed with two hits each. Freshman Justin Gideon pinch hit in the ninth inning and went 1-for-1 with a two run single. Chris Anderi (Tecumseh, Ont.), James Roffey (Guelph, Ont.), Nick Anton (Brampton, Ont.) and Wil Nicholson (Burlington, Ont.) all chipped in with RBI singles to round out the offense.

For Toronto, starter Ryan Donnelly picked up the loss throwing 5 2/3 innings. Bradley Bedford led the offense going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Kyle Bowers went 1-for-3 with two RBI.

This weekend, the Badgers continue their OUA regular season with four games in Milton against Guelph and Western on September 7th and Laurier and McMaster on September 8th.