At the OUA West Qualifier on Friday (Oct. 6), the Brock Badgers baseball team went 1-1, dispatching the McMaster Marauders 12-10, before falling to the Guelph Gryphons in a heartbreaking 10-9 loss.
Game 1: Brock 12 McMaster 10
The Badgers got their regional started with a gutsy 12-10 victory over the host McMaster Marauders.
Brock began the scoring in the bottom third, putting three runs on the board.
The Marauders went on a scoring spree of their own, scoring one in the fourth and a whopping eight in the top half of the fifth. Brock did score a run in the bottom half to reduce the McMaster lead to 9-4.
The sixth inning saw the Badgers explode for five runs. Reid Lunney hit a homerun and then Flynn Matheson tied things up with one swing, scoring four with a grand slam.
In the seventh, a triple from Ashton Feijo plated two Badgers, giving Brock an 11-9 lead.
The teams traded runs in the eighth and McMaster was unable to score again as the Badgers won the first game of the regional by a score of 12-10.
Matheson's three hits and five runs batted in led all players in the contest. Four Badgers (Feijo, Lunney, Ben Grant, Bryn Sanford) registered two hits in the game, while Cole Carpenter, Randy Phelan and Austin Sykes had one apiece. Feijo and Sanford both notched two runs batted in, while Grant and Lunney earned one each.
Starter Dante Cifala went 4.1 innings, giving up five hits and five earned runs, while striking out four and walking four. Kiva Salzman came in relief and produced 1.2 innings of work, with four runs given up (two earned), three hits, two walks and one strikeout. Blake Vidal shut the door in his three innings of work, giving up only one earned run and two hits. The first-year kinesiology major walked one and struck out three.
Game 2: Brock 9 Guelph 10
The second game saw the Brock Badgers match up with the defending regional champion Guelph Gryphons. The Gryphons got the better of the Badgers in a tight 10-9 contest.
Brock got the bats going early, scoring five in the top of the second and forcing Guelph to remove starter Max Rutherford from the game. Brock added two more in the third to take a 7-0 lead.
The Gryphons did not go away, scoring four in the bottom half of the third to reduce the lead to 7-4. A two-run fifth made the Brock lead whittle down to one.
The two teams traded runs with Brock scoring in the top half of the sixth off a Sanford RBI and Guelph getting one of their own in the bottom of the seventh.
Sanford was at it again in the top eighth, bringing home Brock's eighth run of the game. Guelph answered with two in the bottom half.
The Gryphons scored in the bottom of the ninth to walk off the Badgers.
Carpenter had four hits in the contest and finished with one RBI, one walk and three runs scored. Grant, Sanford, Lunney and Ethan Pasco all notched a hit in the game.
Feijo and Phelan finished with hits and two runs batted in each, while Grant had one RBI.
Daniel Howat gave up seven runs, with only four being earned in 6.2 innings. The starter gave up nine hits but delivered seven strikeouts. First-year Charlie Hughes came in relief, pitching 1.1 innings, with three runs given up (two earned), four hits, one walk and one strikeout.
The Badgers will have to take on the Guelph Gryphons in a rematch tomorrow in the semifinal at 10:30 a.m. The winner will play the McMaster Marauders at 2 p.m. for a berth in the OUA championship final four.
BADGERS AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 9-5
Conference Record: 9-5
Next game: Saturday, Oct. 7 vs Guelph Gryphons (OUA West Qualifier Semifinal) • 10:30 a.m. – Hamilton, Ont
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