Third-place finish continues three-year podium streak
After another eventful season, the Warriors baseball team has finished third in the OUA on home field Bechtel Park, falling to the Toronto Varsity Blues in the semi-finals before conquering the Brock Badgers in the bronze medal game. Rookie infielder Carter Kipp cut his teeth with a three-run home run at the bottom of the seventh inning to complete a comeback against the Badgers, finishing the game 6-4, Warriors. The finals ended with Toronto besting the Carleton Ravens, 11-3, for their third consecutive championship.
Semi-final against Toronto
Starting on Friday against the rival Blues, the morning wind carried the sound of the Warriors in the dugout screaming at Toronto’s pitcher Ethan Kwong as he wound his arm up to throw. He nervously wiped his brow after every pitch, passing to his first baseman two or three times to strike out the Warriors’ runners, to no avail. Nevertheless, the Blues were up 2-0 by the end of the second inning.
The winner of this marquee matchup would likely win the gold medal, and both teams strapped up their cleats with this knowledge. In the past two years, they’ve faced off against each other in the finals, with Toronto coming out ahead in both instances. Last year, they won 15-5. However, in Friday’s game, the momentum looked like it might shift to the Warriors.
Veteran pitcher Max Todd stepped up to the mound at the top of the third, shutting down the Blues before his team took up the bat.
At the bottom of the third, a run from catcher Adam Rusch put the Warriors on the board, which awoke deafening roars from the black and gold in the stands.
Headed into the fourth inning, now all tied up, rookie pitcher Luca Valvo took the mound. He came out confident, striking out two players. Unfortunately, some solid hits from Toronto let them load up the bases. A huge hit unleashed an overflow of Blues, which the Warriors failed to fight back against. Now down 2-5, UW feared a repeat of the past two years.
Alas, their nightmares would come to life. The Warriors erected a wall on defence for a scoreless few innings, catching everything the Blues hit. The backfield might as well have had magnets in their gloves, shutting down anything Toronto started.
But Toronto’s hunger for a threepeat outmatched the Warriors’ hunger for a championship. Coming into the top of the seventh, they scored another run to extend their lead, 2-6. UW fought back, scoring a few at the bottom of the seventh to make the game 5-6. More pressure from the Blues at the top of the eighth crumbled Waterloo’s wall, making the game 5-9.
The game finished 11-5 for Toronto; the Warriors walked off the field with their heads in their hands.
Bronze medal game against Brock
In their Saturday matchup against the Brock Badgers, supporters and players alike stood in ponchos and umbrellas, biting their nails as rain delayed the game two hours past its scheduled time. Once things got underway, some crucial errors from the Warriors put them down 1-4 headed into the third inning.
The game remained in a deadlock thereon, save for a hit from outfielder Rhys Jenkyn at the bottom of the fourth, and another from outfielder Ty Tinnish at the bottom of the fifth to make the score 4-3.
The gates guarding the bronze medal seemed to open up for the Warriors heading into the seventh. In the final inning, Waterloo, still down by one, put rookie Carter Kipp up to bat.
Covered in mud and with an opportunity to make a name for himself in his first season, he gazed over at first and second base. There, he saw his teammates getting ready to run, putting their faith in the freshman.
