OUA Baseball League Preview – 2016 Edition
By Justin Ayles
OUA Baseball Guru
It has been a long 10 months since Western captured the Ontario Universities Athletic championship during a weekend full of flurries, wet baseballs, and extra inning thrillers. A long offseason only stirs up the anticipation even more for a league that is growing with young talent. Coaches have been hard at work travelling to Elite, AAA, and high school games to find top talent not yet committed to schools south of the border.     

This process can be a difficult one as OUA Baseball has been fighting to make their mark as a destination worth attending for grade 12 students. This offseason has been a positive one though as teams have loaded up with young talent sprinkled in with high profile transfer students from impressive U.S programs. Social media coverage for the league is at an all-time high and this fast paced season will be a roller coaster of emotions, upsets, and action. Each team is better than they were last year in some way, shape, or form and it will be documented in this preseason roundup.

Let’s start with the aforementioned 2015 OUA champs the Western Mustangs. The Mustangs were able to win on home soil and did it with an all-around team effort. Western will head into the 2016 season without a few of their veteran players. Cam Graham, Owen Boon and Adam Paish have decided to call it a career in the OUA. Graham spent six years with the Brock Badgers and the last three in purple with the Mustangs. He will go down as one of the best catchers in OUA history. 

Paish is one of the most decorated OUA pitchers and can compare the differences in the league throughout those nine seasons saying: “OUA baseball has definitely experienced a lot of positive growth, especially in players. The biggest change is the depth of talent in the league. Most teams are able to bat lineups that are solid 1-through-9, whereas in years past, only a few of the top teams could do this. This makes for a far more competitive baseball season and overall a better experience for players from all schools in the league.”

This type of growth is what will make the hunt for the playoffs all the better. Ten teams vying for six spots makes for a thrilling 18 game schedule. The Mustangs still have an impressive core intact with shortstop Nolan Anderson and first baseman Jeff Martin leading the charge on offense. The pitching staff got a boost as ex-Brock Badger Ryan Beckett will be completing his Master’s Program. Beckett will join Leo Labine and Ben Smith to go along with a few other key pieces to bolster the rotation and bullpen. Look for Coach Mike Lumley to rely a bit more on young talent such as Damon Crumplen and Andrew Warner as they look to make an everyday appearance in the lineup.     

Catcher Taylor Patterson will also have to take a leap forward as he will help fill Cam Graham’s spot.  The Mustangs are in great position to make a deep run in the 2016 playoffs and once again and need their key players to hit on all cylinders at the appropriate time.

The Waterloo Warriors have been a staple in the OUA playoffs for quite some time and that included a final appearance back in 2014. The Warriors stumbled at the end of last season losing their last nine games to fall out of a post-season position, but have every reason to anticipate a return. The Warriors have a core that can be counted on year in and year out. Headlining their impact players is five tool standout player Michael Clouthier. The former Boston College pitcher has transformed into a power threat with a cannon of an arm at third base. Clouthier has punished OUA pitching and there is no reason this year will be anything different.     

The Warriors have some great complimentary players in the lineup such as outfielder Kyle Balzereit, shortstop Erik Werner, and catcher Haydon Frieson. These three players bring a great combination of solid defense in prime positions and enough offense to help protect Clouthier in the lineup. On the bump, the Warriors are returning veteran Ryne Weppler who can be counted on to give his team a chance to win every time out. Coach Tim Pegg has brought in two notable recruits. Jasper Henry is a 6’4 left handed pitcher from California and Pegg also added another pitcher by the name of Ray Singh. Waterloo is simply looking for a season where a nine-game losing streak shouldn’t be a thought. The incoming talent will look to prevent that and get back to playoffs where they have been so used to in the past.

The Ryerson Rams are entering their fourth season as an OUA program and their hard work as a new club to the OUA scene resulted in a playoff appearance in 2015. The Rams have been built off of pitching and defense and that will have to be the case once again this season. Losing Captain Mark Tari due to graduation is quite the blow to an offense that wasn’t spectacular by any means. This season should really test the depth of their position players as Coach Ben Rich has been busy at work building a roster that can withstand graduating talent.

On the pitching side of things, look for sidewinder Quinn Cumming to put up another big season. Cumming is good for a quality start every time out and will go as deep as he can in each game. RHP Kevin MacDonald will be another arm who will be counted on to beat other playoff teams. Newcomer pitcher Charlie Crabb is another to look for on the bump as he will play a factor this season. Coach Rich on what has impressed him so far with this 2016 Rams team: “The players’ ownership of the team and the coaching staff have been working to instill a culture with the program and now the players have taken up that mantle themselves. Making the playoffs last year was a big part of it. Now that they’ve been there once, they’ve set that as the standard for themselves and are extremely motivated to achieve that goal.”     

Look for Ryerson take once again another leap forward as they look to be a mainstay in the OUA playoff picture.

When the president of operations for a university ball team are acting players you must wonder how much support they are truly getting. The York Lions are currently in that situation as second baseman Tyler LeBlanc and outfielder Scott Buck have the duties of keeping a developing team on the right path to reach their goals both on and off the baseball field. Asked about what an occurring challenge that the Lions face every season LeBlanc said: “The biggest challenge we face is our funding difficulties. A good portion of players at York don’t want to pay to play and it costs the team some talented players every year. That coupled with the fact that we don’t have a field on campus makes it hard to establish ourselves in the York community.”     

These are strong words by a player putting a lot of his extra time into his passion and helping the other 25-team members who want to play university baseball. The team itself is on the rise as York has been able to form a solid foundation of good ball players. York is led by standout P-OF Michael Asta who was a hidden gem on mound in 2015. Asta accounted for 60% of the Lions wins and hit .400 as well. Stephen Ranalli is a player that is looking to have another great season. The shortstop had 18 RBIs which was good for fourth in the OUA in 2015. Kyle Frey, Scott Buck, and JP Cutrea are three other names in the offense that will be counted to produce once again. A prospect to watch out for is freshman pitcher Andreas Ouellette who will have to turn in some quality innings in order for the Lions to have any depth on the mound this season. York is on the right path on the baseball diamond, the question is if they can get some support from the University to keep growing as a program.     

The McMaster Marauders had a tough 2015 season that saw them finish in last in the OUA standings. The Marauders are looking to build on some positives that saw them stay close in a lot of ball games.  They lost a trio of starting pitchers in Kyle Angelow, Chris Novachis, and Tomas Rincon, but have a few quality arms ready to jump into a permanent starting role. Carson Braun will be asked to pitch the majority of innings this season and catcher Andy Falcon-Gonzalez will split duties behind the dish and on the rubber. Kenny Noguchi reeled off some impressive starts late in the season and will have to produce once again.

In the field, the Marauders rely on the 1-2 punch Jake Chiaravalle and Michael Campagnolo. These two will be looked upon to have big seasons and carry the McMaster offense this year. Outfielder Michael Westlake and Falcon – Gonzalez will also be threats in the order. The Marauders will be on the lookout for a spark plug at the top of the order as veteran Travis Flint has graduated. The youth movement has begun for the Marauders, it may be a bit of a process but it’s what’s needed to find themselves back where every team wants to be and that is in a playoff picture.

The Laurier Golden Hawks have a roster that is transitioning on the fly. They are maintaining competitiveness and getting younger at the same time. Coach Scott Ballantyne has been known for his recruiting skills over the years and this could be one of the better classes of high school talent. Graduation can really hurt teams and Laurier is no exemption. The Hawks have lost quality starting pitching in Jordan Petruska, Andrew Ziedins, and Adam McBride to go along with all-star outfielder Alex Kupchak. Ballantyne on his young but talented pitching core saying, “I like our pitching depth. With the graduation of three major players we have an opportunity to see a lot of younger guys step up and we have 11 pitchers returning from last year’s team”. Pitchers Christian Hauck and recruit A.J Padmore will be relied upon heavily as starters to go deep into games. The Hawks have a balanced offensive attack this season with experience and budding talent throughout the lineup. 

At the top they have standouts such as Jeff Hunt and Jonathan Brouse who are knowledgeable hitters that excel in the IBL. Brouse has been a top player every year he has been in the league and look for Hunt to have a career year at the dish. Ryley Davenport, the 2015 OUA Rookie of the Year, will look to make even more of a mark in 2016 and handle that deep roster of young pitchers behind the dish. John King, Daniel Apostoli, and Matt Voight will all have impacts as they have proved over the years as quality hitters in this league. Laurier is looking to get back to their championship run of 2013 that included a ton of experienced players. This year they bring out a roster that has a combination of those vets with an influx of young talent. We will soon find out if this roster is good enough to propel them deep into the playoffs.

A season without coach Jeff Lounsbury at the helm just doesn’t sound right. The Brock Badgers are moving forward with a new coaching staff and quite the overhaul of a roster but are seizing this opportunity to build from the ground up with young talent. The Badgers lost some key players to graduation and transferring of schools that included, Dylan Perego, Ryan Beckett, and Phil Owen on the mound. In the field they will be without Ricky Ferri, Phil Steer, Jordan Grant, Quinton Twohey, Rob Byckowski, and Ben Kirby. To the average fan this might look like too many quality names to replace, but the depth of the Badgers squad will really be in full swing as in-house valued players will get a chance to shine. The roster starts with back-to-back league MVP Justin Gideon who will be entering his fourth season. Gideon uses all five tools and an abundance of energy to lead the offensive charge.     

The Badgers have vets Blake Stepien and Dennon Koziol that will be counted on to produce this season as well. Catcher Josh Wray, and shortstop Noah Koffman will get to show what they have to offer in bigger roles this year. A player to watch out for is transfer infielder Jaiden Hill who is ready to produce right away with his impressive hitting and strong defensive skills. On the mound you can look for sophomore Chase Porter to have a breakout season after being a lights out reliever in 2015. Jeff Baggaley can be counted on as a quality arm as he has produced each season and Alex Nolan has some electric stuff on the bump and will look to show off his full arsenal in a bigger role. The Badgers have made it to the OUA finals in five of the past six years and look to find a way back even with a noticeably different roster.

Some people often forget that the Varsity Blues were back-to-back champions in 2011 and 2012. Toronto relied heavily on their starting pitchers and some timely big hits during these years but 2016 should be a different story as their fire powered offense will be ready for action. The Blues feature a lineup that is loaded with experienced big time hitters. Adam Odd, who is returning after taking last season off, posted the top average back in 2014. The Blues have also brought in shortstop Royhei Suzuki from West Virgina Tech. Suzuki started in 46 games and hit .330 with three homeruns.

The Blues also feature a plethora of OUA all-stars: Bradley Bedford, Kyle Bowers, Tanner Young-Shultz, and Gabriel Nakonechny. The prized recruit of the 2016 offseason however is starting pitcher Graham Tebbit. The big righty enjoyed great success south of the border and will look for those accomplishments to transfer right over. You might also see Tebbit in the lineup as he has the power to produce some great numbers. Assistant coach Patrick Jachyra and the rest of the staff have done a great job of recruiting the past few years saying: “Introduce them to U of T Baseball in terms of the structure, the mindset of playing on our team, and the ethos of being a high performance baseball student-athlete.”     

Toronto will have to get a lot out of their rotation and bullpen which should propel them into the playoff picture this season. Colin Edwards looks to slot in nicely as the number two in the rotation after a very solid 2015 campaign. The third and fourth spots in the rotation are up for grabs as Peter Nash, Drew Valade, and David Pham look to battle for important innings. If the Blues can get quality innings from the back end of their rotation and their bats live up to the hype, you could be looking at a Toronto squad that makes a serious run at the Jason Guindon Championship trophy.

The Queen’s Gaels have fought hard the past few years and didn’t have a playoff berth to show for it. The Gaels want to stay relevant in the 2016 season but are going to need a group effort to do so. Starting pitchers Jeremy MacDonald and Tyler Whealy have graduated and leave quite the void in the pitching department. Veteran Devin Burns will be counted on for big time innings and up and comer Will Langford will have to follow suit with quality starts. Outfielders Matt Plut and Austin O’Boyle make a great tandem but need help in the lineup. Look for Joey Stipec and Jamison Higa to produce more frequently after good 2015 seasons.

It is kind of an unknown who Queen’s is bringing in this year for recruits but a few building blocks are needed to stay competitive in 2016. Got to give the Gaels a ton of credit for the amount of travelling they do during the season. Playing in Kingston is always dreaded on the schedule but it is a great atmosphere and Queen’s always puts on a good show when they are hosting league games. A young coaching staff has done these Gaels well. This season will be a little bit of a mystery but Queen’s will want to stay competitive will surely have a few tricks up their sleeves.

The Guelph Gryphons didn’t have the 2015 postseason they envisioned after a great regular season but are hungry to get back into the playoff picture. Coach Matt Griffin and his squad have been solid the past five years and look to get over that playoff hump. A talented growing core is what Guelph has going for them and they keep adding to an impressive list of youngsters. Nick Interisano, Jake Gerovac, Mason (Mace the Ace) Copeland, Matt Allen and veteran Matt Forer headline a very respectable lineup. Don’t forget about their three headed monster behind the dish in Troy LaCoste, Marshall Kovacs and Tyler Randa. It is the Gryphons defense and pitching that will bring up some question marks. With no true starting pitchers returning, the coaching staff will have to rely on a group of talented arms to duke it out for four spots. Don’t forget that the bullpen is important too and the remaining arms will have a significant job in relief.     The team says goodbye to some great essential players who have graduated in Peter Ricciardi, Jeff Snelgrove, and Casey Howard. All three players had very big roles on the team and will be tough to replace in 2016. If the Gryphons can come together when it matters most, look out for team on the road for redemption.

Opening day is Saturday as all 10 teams will be in action.

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