OTTAWA – On the final day of the Baseball Canada National Championships, two more teams, one in the Senior Men division and the other in the peewee division, earned the title of National Champion. But first, the medal matchups had to be decided.
In the Senior Men Championship in Brandon, Manitoba, two quarter-final games started the day’s activities and it took 11 innings to decide the day’s opening contest as Ontario would drive in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning to move on to the semis with a 5-4 win over Manitoba.
Thomas Grubb (Wheatley, ON) was 3-for-4 with an RBI for Ontario, while Rory Tycoles (Reston, MB) was 3-for-5 with an RBI for Manitoba.
In the other quarter-final, it was Nova Scotia holding on for the 6-4 win over Alberta. Nova Scotia took a 6-1 lead into the top of the seventh, but Alberta would rally to score three runs against starter Jason Bailey (Dartmouth, NS). Bailey however would regroup to earn the complete game win and send his team to the semi-finals.
In the semis, Nova Scotia took on Québec and ran into the hot hand of Steven Bélanger (Trois-Rivières, QC). Bélanger threw a complete-game, two hit shutout on route to a 4-0 win to give Québec a birth in the Gold Medal Game. In the other semi, British Columbia scored five runs in the bottom of the first and then scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth to mercy Ontario 11-1. Matt Gunning (Victoria, BC) was 2-for-3 with an impressive seven RBI and two runs scored.
So now British Columbia would square off with Québec for the gold. British Columbia would take command early as they would take a 6-0 lead after three and a half innings. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Québec would get on the board, scoring three runs to cut the lead in half. After both teams scored four runs in the fifth inning to make it 10-7 for British Columbia, Québec would add one in the sixth to cut the B.C. lead to two but that is as close as they would get as British Columbia would win the gold with a 10-8 win over Québec.
Lance Burrows (Victoria, BC) was 2-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored for British Columbia, while teammate Jon Bosnick (Burnaby, BC) was 4-for-4 with four runs scored and an RBI. Danny Girard (Trois-Rivières, QC) was 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored for Québec.
In the Bronze Medal Game, Ontario would score five runs in the third inning and never look back as they would defeat Nova Scotia 10-4 to earn the bronze. Kris Klassen (Harrow, ON) was 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored.
At the Peewee Championship in Vaughan, Ontario, the semi-finals were all set as British Columbia took on Ontario and it was the host team from Vaughan taking on Québec in semi-final number two.
In the first semi-final, it was British Columbia all over Ontario as they would move on to the Gold Medal Game with a 7-1 win. In the second semi-final, it was Québec earning a birth in the Gold Medal Game edging Vaughan by a score of 5-4.
For bronze, it was an all Ontario battle as Team Ontario was too strong for the host team from Vaughan as Ontario captured the bronze medal with an 11-5 win. In the Gold Medal Game, it would be Québec who would take home the title as they would go on to defeat British Columbia by a score of 6-2.
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