By: Justin Ayles

Canadian Baseball Network

The first weekend of OUA baseball is in the books and it had some unique story lines to it. The surprise of the weekend were the York Lions who swept their only two games as they beat Toronto by scores of 9-7 and 6-3.

York used a balanced offensive attack as Kyle Frey, Mike Asta, Stephen Ranalli, and Scott Buck all hit over .400 for the weekend. On the pitching side of things, Asta performed very well in his first start and freshman Andre Ouellette shut down and impressive Varsity Blues lineup.

The Varsity Blues had a tough Sunday, but they found their groove a day earlier. Toronto breezed past the Ryerson Rams by sweeping the series by scores of 16-1 and 4-1. Stellar pitching performances by Josh Graham and Colin Edwards who was named U of T Male Athlete of the Week. Sophomore Gabriel Nakonechny had an unbelievable weekend as he hit for a .500 average with eight runs scored.

Speaking of the Ryerson Rams, they were able to squeak out a win on Sunday against the Queens Gaels as newcomer Charlie Crabb threw all nine innings giving up only a single run. Jeremias Sucre was (got) off to a hot start as he batted .600 while also performing well at shortstop.

The Gaels had a weekend with ups and downs as they stayed relatively close with the Brock Badgers but ultimately fell short. The Gaels had hot starts from standouts Austin O’Boyle and Matt Plut while Devin Burns was rewarded with his first win of the year on Sunday against the Rams. Will Langford also pitched well in his first start of the season.

The Brock Badgers, now led on the field by head coach Marc LePage (who had been a Badgers assistant for quite some time) and had an overall solid weekend. Alumni Jono Marcheterre and ex-pro Dave Davidson are the two other staff members looking to display their wealth of knowledge to guide this young team. The Badgers had hot starts by freshman Matthew Legg, and junior Blake Stepien who led the Badgers offensive attack. Alex Nolan gave Brock a much-needed quality start against a tough Waterloo Warriors lineup.

The Warriors top of the order will be tough to handle this season and that showed this weekend. Don Smith caused havoc on the base paths, Kyle Thalheimer had a monster single game that saw him cash in 6 runs, and Michael Clouthier hit over .500. Veteran arm Ryne Weppler put on a show on Saturday as he gave up a lone run against the Laurier Golden Hawks.

The Golden Hawks proved that their pitching staff is ready to go with arms that performed in all four games. Christian Hauck, A.J. Padmore, Austin Hassani, and Jake Tougas gave quality starts and gave the offense a great chance to win. Laurier’s bats did enough damage to pull away with three wins. This is a great start for a team that lost numerous core pieces.

The Guelph Gryphons were out in full force as they pummelled the McMaster Marauders in their two games as Sam Salemi threw a gem and Nick Interisano stuffed the stat sheet with hits and runs. Sunday was a different story however as they kept games close but ultimately let them slip away to the hands of Laurier. The Gryphons competed in all four games however and that is all you can ask for from your team.

The McMaster Marauders had a rough start to the season seeing them drop all four games played. They got hit hard against Guelph and once again had a tough time against the Western. A great sign for them was seeing veterans Keith Woodcock and Cole Lewis’ names in the lineup as they will give the offense a few more weapons to work with.

The Western Mustangs were only able to get two games in this past weekend but made the most of them as they torched the Marauders for 24 runs. Veteran shortstop Nolan Anderson hit a home run and only got out twice the entire day. Standout pitcher Leo Labine threw six innings of shutout ball in his first win of the year.

Standings after Week 1

York Lions – 2-0

Western Mustangs – 2-0

Laurier Golden Hawks – 3-1

Brock Badgers – 3-1

Waterloo Warriors – 2-2

Guelph Gryphons – 2-2

U of T Varsity Blues – 2-2

Ryerson Rams – 1-3

Queens Gaels – 1-3

McMaster Marauders – 0-4

York Lions roar in OUA opening week