OTTAWA – Two National Champions were crowned at the Baseball Canada National Championships, while one champion will be decided on Monday due to rain today.
Ontario captured the Baseball Canada Cup in Medicine Hat, Alberta on the strength of two three-run innings and a three RBI performance from Andrew Firth (London, ON) to defeat British Columbia 8-6.
New Brunswick scored eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, highlighted by a bases clearing double by Daniel McNeil (Salisbury, NB) to cash in three runs on route to capturing the bronze medal in a surprising 13-8 win over Québec.
Ontario and British Columbia would battle it out for gold at the Bantam Boys Championship in Mascouche, Québec with this time British Columbia coming out on top to take home the gold with a 4-3 win over Ontario.
In the bronze medal matchup, it would be Lanaudiere who come out on top, solidifying third place with a 6-3 victory over Saskatchewan.
The Junior Championship in Charlottetown, PEI saw some inclement weather push back the gold and bronze medal to Monday, but not before the matchups for those games was decided.
A wild pitch in the bottom of the tenth inning allowed Scott Belinski (Kelowna, BC) to score the winning run and put British Columbia in the gold medal game with a 2-1 win over Ontario. Brandon Kaye (Langley, BC) was outstanding on the mound for B.C. as he would pitch nine innings, allowing only one run on five hits with a pair of strikeouts in his outing.
It was the battle of Québec in the second semi-final, but Québec would score ten runs in the first inning and never look back as they would move on to the gold medal game with a 14-2 win over Québec 2 in five innings. Guillaume Dupont-Duguay (Trois-Rivières, QC) threw the complete game for Québec, allowing two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts. Jonathan Lussier (Ste. Thérèse, QC) led the way offensively with four RBI.
British Columbia will take on Québec for gold on Monday at 12:00 pm, while Ontario and Québec 2 will battle it out for bronze at 9:00 am.
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