Elliott: Cameron sets Niagara career saves record
FieldHouse Pirates RHP Zach Cameron (Hamilton, Ont.) has the career saves record at Niagara and equaled the single-season record. Photo: Niagara Athletics
May 19, 2024
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
BUFFALO, NY _ As former major leaguer Greg O’Halloran has told us ... once or 100 times:
“This game is for survivors.”
Zach Cameron survived being cut by the Hamilton Cardinals as a youngster and did not quit.
He handled the drive home after his first workout with the FieldHouse Pirates 14U, despite throwing up inside his father’s car as it cruised down the Lincoln Alexander Parkway.
And he survived a closer’s nightmere of a game during the Niagara Purple Eagles’ trip south this spring. Cameron allowed a game-tying, three-run homer in the ninth and a two-run, game-winning homer in the bottom of the 10th facing the UNC Asheville Bulldogs.
Now, he is Niagara’s single-season save leader as the Purple Eagles finished their regular-season playing the Canisius Golden Griffs. Niagara now heads to the Metro Atlantic Conference championship tournament meeting the Rider Brons on Thursday at Clover Stadium in Pomona, N.Y.
Cameron (Hamilton, Ont.) has 10 saves this spring, his fifth year at school, due to COVID-19. His 10th, which he recorded against Canisius at Demske Park on Friday in a 5-4 win, equaled the single-season save mark.
A lot of Canadians wear their hearts on their sleeves. Cameron sports a Maple Leaf tattoo with baseball-like stitching on his left fore arm, thanks to the artists at Sinkin’ Ink Tattoos on Upper James.
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Cruelest cut of all: Maybe 90% of young players from Hamilton grow up to play for the Hamilton Cardinals, a solid organization.
Very few mistakes are made.
“My friend Matt Blackborough and I were both cut,” he explained, so the two joined the Brantford Red Sox 10U team. “The Hamilton coach later saw Matt and told him ‘We’re friends with your family, I shouldn’t have cut you.’”
Who was the coach who cut the all-time, Niagara saves leaders? Cameron said he didn’t remember his name. Yet, if Hall of Famer Fred McGriff can remember the coach who cut him in grade 9 ... maybe the closer was being diplomatic.
Cameron took the high road and praised Brantford coach Ken Lupton.
“A lot of players from our team went on to play in the Canadian Premier League,” he said.
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Taking it to the house: With FieldHouse, he played two years for coaches Jimmy Richardson (18U), Perry Scott (16U) and Dave Whalen (14).
“Jimmy taught me a lot about how to play the game,” said Cameron. “The most influential person in my baseball life was Dave Whalen.”
Cameron explained that Whalen’s two-hour Pirates practices after fall ball ended would be an hour and a half of conditioning and half an hour of batting practice.
“We wouldn’t pick up a ball until maybe February,” Cameron said.
The Pirates would run the maize which consisted of hammering tractor tires with sledgehammers, picking up tires, running with tires. And the team would go on five-kilometer conditioning runs. Players would run in a line with the first player carrying a 45-pound weight, passing it behind him to the next man and so on ... until the last man would then have to sprint -- carrying the weight -- to the head of the line.
“And we had to do it in under 25 minutes,” he said.
So, after the workout at that first practice how many fewer people -- robins that show up at the start -- showed?
“Three,” said Cameron. “And on the drive home ... I threw up.”
(Now yours truly used to suffer from car sickness at a young age and once threw up inside an empty Kleenex box in my Uncle Sam’s new car driving across the Burlington Skyway on the way to his house in St. Catharines. I have travelled that messy road, so I knew what question to ask next).
“Did you get the window open in time?”
Duncan answered “Nope. Right there on the car floor.”
His father Robert, a child welfare worker at the Arrell Youth Centre in Hamilton, observed that day, “Well, you’re not in shape.” And then he asked, “Do you want to quit?” No, sir. Once home the son cleaned his father’s car. (Uncle Sam never made me do that.)
“Dave Whalen was tough. He was a warden at a women’s prison,” Cameron said. “I had chicken wraps before practice, a mistake, I learned to have a light snack and eat when I got home.”
Cameron’s mom, Jacqueline, used to work for the CIA (“No, not that CIA,” he quickly corrected) the Coke Inspection Agency. Sadly mom was not inspecting and improving on Diet Coke. The CIA is the premiere coke drum inspection service in the world and the only firm completely dedicated to the inspection of coke drums which contain oil.
Mom would travel to Fort McMurray, Germany, India “sometimes she was gone two weeks at a time. Her job was to make sure lasers would scrape and protect the integrity of the drums -- so the oil would not explode.”
Now, mom works for Biox Corp, a renewable energy company, which has designed, built, owns and operates a 60 million litre per annum biodiesel production facility in Hamilton.
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The Road to Lewiston: Niagara recruiting coordinator and assistant coach Matt Spatafora (Scarborough, Ont.), who has made many inroads across the country, came to evaluate Cameron at FieldHouse in Burlington.
Then, Cameron was invited to Bobo Field in Lewiston, outside of Niagara Falls for a showcase so head coach Rob McCoy and Spatafora could get an up-close look.
McCoy offered him a spot.
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Relieving: Cameron was a two-way, guy until his junior year. He said skipper McCoy yelled at him: “I never want to see you at third base again.”
Later in the third base dugout within ear shot of skipper McCoy, who nurtured RHP Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) on his way to the majors and the Seattle Mariners, Cameron whispered, “I only have six career at-bats, mostly as a DH.”
Cameron says he likes to “empty the tank,” as a closer. He is far from the Jordan Romano (Markham, Ont.), Duane Ward or Tom Henke school of one-inning closers. In 15 of his 20 appearances he has worked more than one inning -- his high was 4 1/3 innings and 65 pitches in an extra-inning win over the Rider Broncs -- and he pitched 3 1/3 innings in his record-breaking save against Canisius on Friday.
That Saturday afternoon at Asheville’s Greenwood Field, Cameron entered a high leverage situation with two out in the eighth. The Bulldogs had scored twice to narrow Niagara’s lead to 7-4 and were threatening with the bases loaded. Cameron escaped getting No. 2 Robbie Burnett on a grounder to second.
Only 11 pitches into the bottom of the ninth, Cameron had watched: a man reach on an error, another on a four-pitch walk and then a three-run homer, by No. 5 hitter Cameron Johnson. It took five hitters to escape the ninth with the score still deadlocked.
A four-pitch walk and a homer by No. 3 man Dylan Bacot came in the 10th. And as Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley used to say, “you give up a homer on the road in extras and you walk off the mound. That’s why I call it a walk-off.”
Now the likes of Woody Fryman, Jeff Reardon, John Wetteland and Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera -- a combined 1,407 career saves -- all told me that a closer’s best asset was “a short memory.”
Cameron says his best quality is his “mental toughness.”
Four days later, McCoy went to Cameron with a one-run lead and James Madison Duke runners at first and second. Cameron said: “I knew what I had to do.” He pitched 3 1/3 innings allowing one run to pick up the victory in the 8-5 decision, throwing 45 pitches.
“In terms of mental toughness, Zach is in a class of his own,” McCoy said. “He’s at his best during situations in games where most others melt under the pressure. He’s a master of the mental game and his pitch by pitch process. He genuinely believes in his ability to control the controllables. We are 45-1 when leading after eight innings in the last two years. Zach is a major reason for that.”
“When I put him in the game, I basically pack up all my report information and watch him do his thing.”
Cameron’s year-by-year save totals go like this:
_ Freshman year, 2020: 0.
_ Spohomore, 2021: three
_ Junior, 2022: three.
_ Senior, 2023: eight. (He also had three for the Valley Blue Sox in the New England College summer league going 4-0 with a 2.05 ERA, walking 10 and fanning 24 in 12 innings.)
_ Graduate student, 2024, 10 and counting.
Cameron’s 24 career saves dwarf the old mark of Geoff Soja who had 11 (2011-14). His 10 this season bring him even with Tyler Addison from the 2006 Eagles.
“Zach is a true bulldog on the mound,” said Spatafora. “His aggressive nature at the end of games makes him great. He never lets the moment get too big. Everything is important but nothing is special.”
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Post-Niagara: Cameron says he is hoping to find a place where he can pitch ... either the second half of the MLB Draft League or independent ball ... “a place where I can get paid to pitch.”
If not, he has a degree in education and will become an English teacher once he obtains his New York State Teachers and his Ontario teachers certification.
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Best thing about going to school 20 minutes from Buffalo? Cameron said he and his pals attend a few triple-A Buffalo Bisons games. And they are Buffalo Bills regulars, although not to watch games at Orchard Park.
“Our teams work a concession stand at Bills home games ... our program gets a percentage of the take and all the tips,” Cameron explained. “We have to be there at 8 a.m. for a 1 o’clock game.”
Ever see anyone drinking?
“Some are well on the way ... at 8 a.m.”
Asked if he understood why the passion of Bills Mafia tail gaiters jump from high or are tossed onto folding tables, he shrugs. Like the rest of us.
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Worst experience at Niagara: When the borders were closed during COVID-19 pandemic, all students were restricted to base. Cameron lost his grandfather John Carey, who lived in St. Catharines.
“Roughly 15 minutes away and I never got to see him when he was ill and he never got to see me play,” Cameron said wistfully. “He was born in Scotland and a huge Glasglow Celtics fan.”
Which means Cameron is eligible for the World Baseball Classic and he has been speaking to Great Britain’s Connor Brooks about completing the proper paperwork.
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Best friends at school: Former Ontario Terriers alumni C Matt Ward (Mississauga, Ont.) also a fifth-year senior, grad student Evan Wilde (Airdrie, Alta.), a former Calgary Bandit and RHP Drew Patton, who has graduated and is living in Scranton, Pa.
Looking ahead: Niagara enters the conference tournament Wednesday as the No. 2 seed? The team to beat?
“Fairfield is ranked No. 1, so a lot of people are looking at them,” Cameron said. The Stags took two of three from the Eagles at Niagara earlier this month. Fairfield won 9-3 and 6-0 before Niagara won Game 3 12-10. Cameron had the win (three earned runs in two innings).
“We didn’t play our best,” said Cameron.
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Toughest hitter he ever faced: Niagara’s Eric Rataczak, who he faced in live batting practice. All Rataczak did was hit his 14th homer -- a three-run drive in the second -- and an RBI double in the sixth on Thursday. He had another hit as well.
“How about that? A homer to tie the school record and then a double to break it?” asked Cameron.
Knocking in three runs lifted Rataczak to 64 RBIs this season, surpassing the record 63 held by Josh McCurdy (Thornhill, Ont.) in 2003. After Game 1 against the Griffs, Rataczak led both the MAAC in hitting (.404) and RBIs.
“He has such a professional approach,” Cameron said. “Usually my change up is devastating. Not against him. His exit velocity is amazing. How much is it? A lot. Sometimes he hits the ball too hard. He’ll line the ball to right and you think it’s a single but the outfielder catches it.”
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Faces in the crowd: Nancy and Richie Panas were at Thursday’s game. Their son Connor played for the Griffins and brought Connor’s well-behaved dog Griff to see his first game. Connor was busy playing ball for El Aguila de Veracruz in Mexico, a teammate of former major leaguers Yasiel Puig, Alex Liddi, plus pitchers Yennsy Díaz, Julian Fernández, Esmil Rogers, A.J. Schugel Phillips Valdéz and Héctor Velázquez.
Connor was our Canadian Baseball Network all-Canadian Player of the year in 2015 with the Griffs. The former Toronto Met earned Canadian Baseball Network All-Canadian First Team honours in 2015 and 2014 as well as an Honorable Mention 2012-13.
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Face in the crowd II: Former Griff Ryan Asis (St. Catharines, Ont.) was also in the crowd. The Team Ontario grad and Mississauga Tigers grad played at Arkansas-Fort Smith and Delta State before transferring to Canisus for 2007-08. In two seasons, he combined to hit .336 with 15 doubles, four triples, five homers and 45 RBIs. He had an .885 OPS in 89 games. He earned a Canadian Baseball Network All-Canadian Honourable Mention in 2006.
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Game 1, 17-9 Niagara win: LHP Blake McMillan (Mississauga, Ont.) pitched four scoreless allowing one hit. LHP Zac Laird (Langley, BC) allowed two runs for the Purple Eagles ... For Canisius: Josh Niles (St. Thomas, Ont.) doubled, homered and knocked in five runs … For Canisius, Carlin Dick (Abbotsford, BC) singled. RHP Aaron Duffy (Burlington, Ont.) took the loss allowing seven runs in 1 2/3 innings.
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Game II, 6-3 Niagara win: C Matt Ward (Mississauga, Ont.) doubled and drove in two runs. C Rees Kozar (Amherstburg, Ont.) singled and knocked in a run. LHP Nick Veselinovic (LaSalle, Ont.) worked 2 1/3 scoreless. RHP Steve Hospital (Oakville, Ont.) and LHP Noah Richardson (Windsor, Ont.) had scoreless outings. And Cameron picked up his 10th save of the season for the Purple Eagles ... For Canisius, Niles doubled in a run and Dick singled.
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Game III, 15-3 Niagara win: CF Nick Groves (London, Ont.) doubled, homered and knocked in four runs. Ward added a single. RHP Brady Kobitowich (Edmonton, Ont.) pitched two scoreless innings. Evan Wilde (Airdrie, Alta.) allowed two runs for the Purple Eagles ... For Canisius, LHP Felix Morin (Quebec, Que.) pitched two scoreless innings. LHP Chris Pouliot (Boischatel, Qué.) pitched a scoreless inning as well. RHP Peyton Consigli (Fonthill, Ont.) allowed one run.
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Next up: No. 5 Canisius plays No. 4 ranked Mount St. Mary's in first-round action on Wednesday.