BMOC Week 21

By Matt Betts

Canadian Baseball Network

Th college baseball season is in the books. One Canadian achieved the ultimate goal. Take a look below to see the highlights from the last weeks of the campaign.

Commodores come back to win National Championship

Cooper Davis (Mississauga, Ont.) is a College World Series champion. His National Collegiate Athletic Association No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores won back-to-back games after dropping Game 1 of the College World Series championship series to Michigan to claim the title. After the 7-4 Game 1 loss, Vanderbilt came back with 4-1 and 8-2 wins to secure their place atop college baseball. The Commodores went 5-1 in Omaha overall. Davis finished his sophomore season hitting .331 in 35 games.

Julien leads Tigers to Omaha

Before getting to Omaha the Auburn Tigers needed to win Game 3 of their Super Regional with No. 14 North Carolina. The Tigers did just that with the help of a 3-for-5 game with three RBIs from Edouard Julien (Quebec City, Que.). They ran into No. 6 Mississippi State in the opener of the College World Series. The Tigers dropped the contest 5-4. Julien went 2-for-4 with three RBIs in the game. He blasted a two-run home run in the top of the second to give Auburn a 2-0 lead. With the season on the line the Tigers couldn't get in the win column despite a strong effort against No. 7 Louisville. The Tigers dropped the game 5-3 and were eliminated. Julien went 2-for-2 with two walks in the loss. He finished the season hitting .258 in 65 games played. The sophomore slugged 10 home runs and drove in 57. The Minnesota Twins made Julien the 539th pick in the 18th round of this year’s MLB Draft, but he has decided to return to Auburn in 2020.

Mississippi State ousted in Omaha

A memorable season for the No. 6 Mississippi State Bulldogs came to an end with a 1-2 record at TD Ameritrade Park. It started off well as the Bulldogs dumped Auburn 5-4 in the opener but losses to No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 7 Louisville ended their season. Eric Cerantola (Oakville, Ont.) threw a scoreless 1/3 of an inning, striking out the only out he recorded in the 6-3 loss to Vanderbilt. The freshman had a nice rookie season going 3-0 with a 4.30 ERA over 14 2/3 innings while playing in the power Southeastern Conference.

Brash earns Second team honours

Matthew Brash (Kingston, Ont.) was rewarded for his strong season for the Niagara Purple Eagles by being named to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-Region Second Team. Brash went 4-5 in 2019 and posted a 2.45 ERA. He punched out 121 over 85 1/3 innings for the Purple Eagles. The righty did all of that in 14 starts. The San Diego Padres plucked Brash in the fourth round, 113th overall in the 2019 MLB Draft. He is currently working on his craft with the Class A Fort Wayne TinCaps.

Successful freshman season

Not only did Ben Abram (Georgetown, Ont.) make a good first impression on the field at the University of Oklahoma, he also got it done in the classroom. Abram was named to the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team. The big righty went 6-4 with a 4.24 ERA in his first season as a Sooner and was recently named to Team Canada for the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.

Mendham drives them in

David Mendham (Dorchester, Ont.) finished second in the National Junior College Athletic Association in RBIs with 85 for the Connors State Cowboys. Mendham is currently playing summer ball with the Bismarck Larks of the Northwoods League.

What a season 2019 was. It was filled with championships, honours and great performances for many Canadians. Thank you for reading and see you in 2020.