October 20, 2024

By Trevor Fitzpatrick

Canadian Baseball Network

GUELPH, ONT. – A boisterous hometown crowd at Hastings Stadium couldn’t stop the Carleton Ravens from claiming a National University Championship with a 7-4 win over the Guelph Gryphons.

Ravens right-hander Nathan Van Putten (Monkland, Ont.), who was named player of the game, and Gryphons lefty Ryan Cooper (Toronto, Ont.) both had quality starts, allowing just three runs each in a pitchers’ duel.

The game was decided in the seventh and final inning when Carleton rallied with two outs.

Owen Constantineau (Ottawa, Ont.) cashed in the go-ahead run with an RBI double to make it 4-3. Then, Eric Blamauer (Guelph, Ont.) scored him with a double of his own.

“It was electric,” said Constantineau. “It felt good to get that run across and then to have the boys add on a bit more insurance behind me.”

Daniel Meron (Thornhill, Ont.), who entered in relief for Cooper, was pulled after only two outs and left with two runners on.

Unfortunately for Guelph, Samuel Kerr (Toronto, Ont.) was unable to escape Meron’s jam. Eric Del Fatti (Vaughan, Ont.) scored both runners with a single.

Guelph attempted to rally in the bottom half but came up just short. The potential tying run came to the plate after an error, but reliever Robert Forward (Ottawa, Ont.) struck out Marco Da Gama (Toronto, Ont.) to end the game as the Ravens rushed the field to celebrate.

Other run producers in the game included:

Da Gama with a solo home run and Arthur Kowara (Etobicoke, Ont.) with a two-run single for the Gryphons.

Thomas Fournier (Oakville, Ont.) and Colby Schroeder (Manotick, Ont.) contributed RBI singles for the Ravens and Andrew Sahadeo (Ottawa, Ont.) had an RBI groundout.

Post Game:

The loss was the Gryphons’ first of the tournament after they went undefeated during round-robin play and the semi-finals against the Concordia Stingers.

The Ravens also finished with just one loss in the tournament. It came at the beginning of the competition against the Gryphons during their round-robin matchup.

Constantineau, the former Ottawa Knights prospect and current St. Louis Community College player, earned Tournament MVP honours and Van Putten Player of the Game honours during the post-game ceremony.

“It’s an honour,” said Constantineau, “I was glad to be a part of this championship team – everyone should watch out for us next year. Every single one of us showed up this weekend.”

As the Ravens formed their final huddle of the season, one message could be overheard from the coaching staff: “How about those Ravens!?”