BMOC XIV: Bouchey, Boyd, Leblanc, Lumley, Thibideau, Thorpe

Chris Thibideau (Dartmouth, NS) of the University of North Florida Ospreys earned Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week honors from Collegiate Basebal

BMOC Week XIV
By Matt Betts
Canadian Baseball Network
A home grown product raised on maple syrup and Tim Horton’s took home National Player of the Week south of the border with his performance this past week, while a few others took home conference honours. 

Two Canadians also squared off in a Atlantic Coast Conference showdown. Let’s take a look at the exciting week that was in college baseball.

Thibideau is Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week
Might as well start off Week 14 with a bang. Chris Thibideau (Dartmouth, NS) of the University of North Florida Ospreys had such a fine week that he was honoured as the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week named by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. In the Ospreys’ Game 1 loss to Florida Gulf Coast, Thibideau would record a hit and steal a base. It was Game 2 in which he really got his stick going. He would go 4-for-5 with two home runs, five RBIs and a stolen base in North Florida’s 11-10 win in 12 innings. Of those two homers, one was a two-run shot and the second was a solo shot that put UNF up in the 12th. Game 3 would see UNF take the series with a 6-3 win. Thibideau would launch another solo shot en route to a 2-for-4 day. It was the first time North Florida had ever taken a series from Florida Gulf Coast. Along with the National Player of the Week accolade, Thibideau also earned himself Atlantic Sun Player of the Week for his superb series.

Bouchey is Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week
Brayden Bouchey (White Rock, BC) would earn himself Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week with his performance on the mound for the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks against Georgia Southern. He would go six innings, allowing just a single hit and unearned run with five walks and twelve strikeouts. It was the second time this year Bouchey had been given the honour. The other was March 28th for his performance against Appalachian State.

Lumley named MAAC Player of the Week
Jake Lumley (Windsor, Ont.) had a huge week for the Canisius Golden Griffins on his way to earning Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Week. In Game 1 of a midweek doubleheader with Cornell he went 3-for-3. He would then record a hit and a walk in the back half of the double dip. Canisius would take Game 1, 1-0 and Game 2, 6-4. Next up was a weekend series with Youngstown State. In Game 1, a 4-2 Griffs win in 10 innings, Lumley went 2-for-5. Canisius would drop Game 2 but Lumley still managed to go 2-for-4 with a walk. Canisius would earn the series win in Game 3 by taking the game 10-2. Lumley would close out his fantastic week with a 2-for-6 performance with a walk and six RBIs. He finished the week with a .591 on-base percentage and a .778 slugging percentage to go along with his .556 batting average. 

Osborne on base four times, drives in four
It seems as though J.D. Osborne (Whitby, Ont.) cannot be stopped by opposing pitching as of late. In Tampa’s Game 1, 19-4 throttling of Palm Beach Atlantic the Whitby native would double as part of a 2-for-5 game. He would also drive in two and cross the plate once himself. It wasn’t much better for the Sailfish in Game 2 as the Spartans thumped them 10-1. Osborne would double and drive in two for the victors. Tampa would close out the sweep with a 2-0 win in Game 3. Osborne would earn a free pass to reach in every game in the series.

Verge has solid season
Mason Verge (Vancouver, BC) of Monterey finished up his regular season campaign with a hit, two walks and a RBI in their final two games. He finished the season hitting .355 with three home runs, 19 RBIs and 18 stolen bases.

Another nice season at Monterey
Verge isn’t the only member of the Monterey baseball team that hails from British Columbia. Dylan Thorp (North Vancouver, BC) picked up the win in his team’s win over Gavilan. He would go 7 2/3 innings allowing eight hits and a run. He would walk two, strikeout five and collect his first win of the season. He wasn’t done there, however. He would come on and earn the save against San Francisco by throwing a scoreless inning with a walk and two strikeouts in the 6-4 win. He finished his season 7-5 with two saves and a 3.14 ERA. He would throw 80 1/3 innings in 16 appearances, 13 starts. He would strikeout 68 batters along the way.

Caputo with a couple multi-hit games
Stony Brook may have lost 14-9 to Fairfield in a midweek showdown but that didn’t stop Johnny Caputo (Toronto, Ont.) from shining bright. He would launch a home run along with another hit and two RBIs in the loss. He would again go 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored in his teams 6-3 Game 3 conference series loss to UMBC.

Boyd burns opposition
It was a good night for the Arizona Wildcats when they downed in-state rival Arizona State 8-0 last week. Louis Boyd (North Vancouver, BC) would be stirring it up for Arizona with a 2-for-4 game with a walk. In Game 2 of their weekend series with the Trojans of USC he would record a hit and walk twice. USC would take the game 8-5 after Arizona toppled them by the same score in Game 1. The Trojans would get the last laugh as they would take the series with a 5-2 Game 3 victory. Boyd would reach twice in that one with two walks.

Yates reaches five times
Dawson Yates (Kelowna, BC) was no stranger to the base paths in Texas A&M Corpus Christi’s series with Northwestern State. In Game 1 he would have a base knock and a run scored. Northwestern State would win the game 4-3 in 10 innings. Game 3 wouldn’t go the way of TAMUCC either but Yates would go 2-for-2 with two walks.

Habeck battles for Georgia State
It was a grind it out type of game for Marc-Andrew Habeck as he took the hill in Game 2 of Georgia State’s series with South Alabama. He would work five innings, giving up just three hits with three runs. He would also walk three and strikeout two. He is 1-3 with a 4.18 ERA this season.

Three appearances for Takenaka
It is always nice to get consistent work as a reliever. When you struggle sometimes the best thing is to be thrown back out there. The struggling part didn’t apply to Ryo Takenaka this past week. He would start it off with a scoreless appearance against Minot State in his teams 9-7 loss. He would allow a hit, a walk and strikeout two in that one. He would be back out there in Game 2 of his teams series with Bemidji State and he wouldn’t disappoint again. He would go another scoreless inning allowing a hit and a walk. He would also strikeout one. He would close out Game 4 of the series by recording his second save of the year. It would be another scoreless appearance with a strikeout. 

Erickson wins for Waldorf
Dave Erickson (Sherwood Park, Alta.) was outstanding for Waldorf in their 2-1 win over Dakota State. He would work eight innings, allowing just six hits, an unearned run with five walks and four strikeouts. He is 1-3 on the season.

Parpit-Sinclair hits home run
Toure Parpit-Sinclair (Pickering, Ont.) would smash a home run and go 2-for-4 in Jefferson’s 13-6 loss to Herkimer College. He would finish that game with four RBIs. He would also collect a hit in a game against Monroe.

Wilson getting on base
It was a solid start to the weekend individually for Zac Wilson (New Lowell, Ont.) of Davenport University. He would go 3-for-5 with two RBIs despite his team falling 12-6 to Madonna. He would walk in Game 2 before collecting a hit and two runs scored in the finale. Madonna would sweep Davenport in the three game set.

Some big performances for the Wesmen
Despite losing all four to Viterbo, the Winnipeg Wesmen had some very solid performances over the weekend. In Game 1, a 9-4 loss, Riley Poole (Oak Bluff, Man.) went 2-for-3. Drake Pilat (Winnipeg, Man.) and David MacDonald (Winnipeg, Man.) would also contribute a hit each. 
With MacDonald’s hit and walk one of the lone bright spots in Winnipeg’s Game 2, 16-2 loss, it was on to Game 3 for Winnipeg.

Game 3 wasn’t the prettiest either as they would be handed an 18-5 loss. Poole would go 2-for-4 while Pilat would also go 2-for-4 with a double. McDonald also had himself a two-hit game with a RBI. 

Game 4 would be closer but it would still go the way of Viterbo by the score of 9-8. Poole would again go 2-for-3, this time with a walk and two RBIs. Pilat pounded out two hits and two RBIs while MacDonald would chip in with a RBI. Poole and MacDonald are both freshman this season. Alain Andre (Winnipeg, Man.) was solid in relief going 4 2/3 innings, allowing four hits, three runs (one earned) with six walks and eight strikeouts. He would be handed the loss and fell to 1-1 on the year.

Pinero handles Pitt
After a walk in a midweek game with Old Dominion it was a conference showdown with Pittsburgh for Daniel Pinero (Toronto, Ont.) and the Virginia Cavaliers. Virginia would sweep the Panthers in the three game series with scores of 5-1, 7-6 and 9-1. In Game 1, Pinero would have a hit and a walk. He would add a hit and a RBI in Game 2 and go 3-for-5 with a RBI in Game 3.

Leblanc with five hits in tough weekend for Panthers
It was clear Charles Leblanc (Laval, Que.) didn’t want to be outdone by fellow Canadian Daniel Pinero in Pittsburgh’s series with Virginia. Although Virginia would sweep the series, Leblanc was a bright spot for the Panthers. In Game 1 he would have a hit and score the lone Panther run. Game 2 would see him have his best game of the series, going 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. He would round out the series with a hit in the Game 3 loss.

Big weekend for UBC
The bats were alive and well for several members of the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds as they took 3-of-4 from Oregon Tech. The Owl pitching staff had no    answer for the T-Birds bats in the 11-6 Game 1 UBC win. Anthony Olson (Edmonton, Alta.) would get things going in the leadoff spot by having a 3-for-5 game with a double and a triple while driving in a run. Bruce Yari (Waterloo, Ont.) continued to be a force going 4-for-5 with a solo home run, four RBIs and also reaching via a hit by pitch. Four other T-Birds, Anthony Cusati (Burnaby, BC), Vinny Martin (Pender Island, BC), Tyler Enns (East St. Paul, Man.) and Kyle McComb (Surrey, BC) would have two hits apiece. Runs would be driven in by Cusati, Martin and two by Enns who also doubled twice. Connor Noble (Vanvouver, BC) would be outstanding on the hill tossing    eight innings and allowing just six hits. He would give up two runs with a walk and six strikeouts.

Game 2 was just as fun if you were rooting for UBC. UBC would take the game 13-1 behind plenty more offence. Yari would hit a two-run home run on his way to a three hit game. It would be two hits each for Lucas Soper (Vancouver, BC), Cusati, McComb and Enns. Vinny Martin would go 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a stolen base to add to his offensive totals. Anthony Olson would reach base three times without a hit, collecting a pair of walks and being hit by a pitch. He would make the opposition pay by stealing a base and scoring a run. Jeremy Newton (Toronto, Ont.) would throw eight innings, allowing a run on two walks and a pair of punch outs. 

Game 3 would be the only loss to the Owls in the series as Oregon Tech would drop UBC 4-3. Soper and Enns had two hits while Brad Smith (Vancouver, BC) took the loss. He would go 6 1/3 innings giving up eight hits, three runs with a walk and two strikeouts. 
Curtis Taylor (Port Coquitlam, BC) would pitch the Thunderbirds to a Game 4 win. He would go six innings, scattering seven hits, four runs with a walk and nine strikeouts. He improved his record to 9-3. Tyler Gillies (London, Ont.) would pitch the final three innings, locking down his sixth save.

UBC finishes the regular season with a 37-18 record (23-12 in conference). So, what does all this mean for the T-Birds? UBC will now host the conference tournament with their opening game this Friday against the College of Idaho. They also receive an automatic qualifier to the 2nd round of the playoffs. 

Former JNT member shines again
Former Junior National Team pitcher Skylar Janisse (Maidstone, Ont.) would throw five scoreless innings to pick up the win for the Oklahoma City Stars in their 12-0 win over St. Gregory’s. He would allow just two hits, a walk and struck out five. He improved to 6-4 to finish the season to go along with a 3.36 ERA in 12 starts and two complete games.

The honours keep rolling in for Canadians in college baseball. Each week is something new so don’t miss any of the action. Check the BMOC weekly for a round up of who’s hot for their school.

If you know of someone who is deserving of a mention in this weekly column, please email Matt Betts @ mattbetts41@gmail.com