For the ninth time in history, Ontario is the gold medal winner at the Baseball Canada Cup featuring 17U all-star provincial teams.
Ontario and BC met in the championship contest at Kiwanis Park in Moncton, New Brunswick for the sixth time since 1989 and it was Ontario who came away with a 9-5 victory.
Noah Hull belted a first inning homer before Ontario added five runs in the second to take a commanding lead.
Ontario starter Connor O’Halloran struck out seven over four and two-thirds innings of work to get the win.
Hull finished the game with four RBI and tournament Top Hitter; Austin Gomm added a double and two RBI.
BC chased O’Halloran from the game in the fifth scoring their first run and added a pair of runs in each of the fifth and seventh frames. Johnny Vulcano, the tournament’s Top Defensive Player, had three hits and scored two runs while Madjik Mackenzie drove in three.
Ontario catcher Ryan Leitch was given the Top Catcher Award during the closing ceremonies.
Bronze Medal
Meanwhile, in the bronze medal contest, a bit of history was made with two Atlantic squads playing each other for a medal since the Baseball Canada Cup began in 1989. It was Nova Scotia coming out on top, defeating host New Brunswick, 9-3.
Nathan MacKinnon was dominant over five innings of work in relief to lead Nova Scotia to just their second Baseball Canada Cup medal in history (bronze in 1995).
MacKinnon entered the game in the third and gave up an RBI single that tied that score, 3-3, but face just 16 batters after that and fanned three to get the win.
Nova Scotia scored three runs in the fourth to go up by three before adding one in the sixth and another two in the seventh.
Jake MacKinnon drove in four of Nova Scotia’s runs with a 3-for-4 performance and leadoff hitter Micah McDowell went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI.
Playoff games:
In a game that featured four different lead changes, BC scored five runs in the sixth and hung on for a 10-6 win over Nova Scotia to punch their ticket to the gold medal game. Dawson Clark and Joshua Walker drove in two runs apiece for the winners.
Ontario advanced to the gold medal contest with a convincing, 10-3, win over host New Brunswick. Ontario starter Campbell Ellis tossed five scoreless innings on the mound while Owen Diodati smacked a pair of doubles and drove in five runs.
Nova Scotia advanced to the semi-final game with a 2-0 win over Québec thanks to a complete game shutout from Evan O’Toole. O’Toole scattered two hits and walk while fanning nine Québec batters.
In other games:
PEI defeated Newfoundland & Labrador, 5-2, to claim ninth place; Alberta edged Manitoba, 4-3, to finish seventh and Saskatchewan beat Québec, 3-2, to finish fifth.
(Photo: Tanya Everett)
