Coming one game short last season, the Brock Badgers baseball team looks to avenge their 2022 regional finals loss and make its way to the OUA championship in 2023.
To do so, the Badgers (8-4) will have to get past both the McMaster Marauders (7-9) and Guelph Gryphons (8-6).
Action gets underway on Friday, Oct. 6 at Bernie Arbour Stadium in Hamilton as Brock will take on the Marauders to get the tournament started at 10 a.m. The Badgers will then clash with the defending regional champion Guelph Gryphons at 1:30 p.m.
On the bump, the Badgers are led by junior Daniel Howat, who comes into the championships sporting a 3.89 ERA and a team-leading 18 innings pitched. The Brantford Red Sox (Intercounty Baseball League) product is an experienced pitcher, who remains calm in big moments and will be relied upon as the ace of the staff.
Joining Howat are a bevy of young bullpen arms eager to make their mark in OUA playoff action. Charlie Hughes, Jack Kemp, Jack Tiessen, Kiva Salzman and Blake Vidal are all freshman that coach Mark LePage can use in a number of ways to get outs late in the game.
At the dish, Brock looks to New Mexico transfer Ben Grant to provide some pop. The Coquitlam, BC product holds a .357 batting average (BA), a .457 on-base percentage (OBP) and a 1.064 on-base percentage plus slugging percentage (OBPS) with six runs batted in.
Two other power hitters to watch out for are transfers Flynn Matheson and Randy Phelan. Matheson comes from Northwestern Ohio (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) by way of the Toronto Mets, while Phelan attended Fingerlakes Community College and is a local St. Catharines product.
Defensively, Reid Lunney is an excellent defender at short, while Ethan Pasco patrols centre field for the Badgers. Behind the plate, the Badgers look to Queen's transfer and senior Noah Polesky to provide stability and leadership.
"We're excited about this team because it's well balanced," said head coach Marc LePage. "We've improved in areas that we identified we were deficient in, and we feel we put together a competitive team that can go deep into the playoffs."
After the two Badgers' contests, there will be a third matchup of the day between the McMaster Marauders and Guelph Gryphons at 5 p.m.
The top finishing team of the three will earn a bye and home designation for the final on Saturday (Oct. 7) at 2 p.m. The other two teams will play in a semifinal contest on Saturday at 10 a.m., with the higher seed earning the opportunity to bat last as the home team.
