By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Every fall we name the Canadian Baseball Network all-Canadian college team, after adding up the votes from our select electorate.

We decided to name the team — the best of those playing south of the border — despite the fact the spring season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some teams played five games, some like Douglas College only got in two games.

But why not recognize players? You think they didn’t work as hard all this past winter until March 12 — when our world changed — compared to other years?

This year we thought we’d present our 21st annual all-Canadian team in a different way.

Batting lead-off ... the Canadian Baseball Network all-Canadian Third Team.

On deck ... the Canadian Baseball Network all-Canadian Second Team.

In the hole ... the Canadian Baseball Network all-Canadian First Team.

And finally ... the 21st annual Canadian Baseball Network Player of the Year ... and we’ll add players named to our Honourable Mention list.

Most first-place votes on our Third Team: Trei Cruz (Houston, Tex.) of the Rice Owls 14, Daniel Carinci (Ajax, Ont.) Kansas State Wildcats 12, Jacob Ervin (Mississauga, Ont.) Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norse 11; Evan Magill (Ajax, Ont.) of the Monroe Tribunes 9, Jordan Nwogu (Ottawa, Ont.) Michigan 8 and Matt Coutney (Edmonton, Alta.) Old Dominion 7.

Third team by province: Ontario 7, Alberta 2, British Columbia 1, Saskatchewan 1 and Quebec 1,

Third team by graduating organizations: Toronto Mets 3, Calgary Bandits 1, Ducs de Longueuil 1, Episcopal High (Houston) 1, Great Lakes Canadians 1, Ontario Blue Jays 1, Pioneer HS (Ann Arbour, Mich.) 1, Prairie Baseball Acadmey 1, Rocket de Coaticook 1, Saskatoon Diamondbacks 1, Spruce Grove White Sox 1, St. Francis Academy 1 and Vauxhall Acadmey 1.

2020 Third Team

Left-hander _ Evan Wilde (Airdrie, Alta.) Cloud County Community College TBirds.

Wilde was anything but ... walking seven men in 21 1/3 innings. He made three starts in five games, going 3-0.

He won three starts in a row: a 5-4 triumph against Seminole State (allowing one run on two hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings of relief as he struck out five), a 9-2 win against Marshalltown (one run on four hits, while striking out nine in six innings) and a 3-1 win over Seward County (one unearned run on three hits, nine strikeouts in six innings).

Wilde pitched two innings in an 11-3 win over the Kansas Wesleyan JVs, walking three and striking out three, then he worked four innings allowing one run in an 11-1 win over Butler.

A Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs grad, Wilde pitched for coach Todd Hubka and before that the Calgary Bandits and coach Mark Zarkowski.

Great Lake Canadians alum Jordan Marks (Bright’s Grove, Ont.) is the right-handed starter on CBN’s 2020 All-Canadian Third Team.

Right-hander _ Jordan Marks (Bright’s Grove, Ont.) Upstate University of South Carolina Spartans.

Marks made four starts and allowed five runs in in 25 2/3 innings. He pitched 7 1/3 scoreless against Long Island allowing four hits and a walk, while striking out nine. He backed that outing up with seven innings allowing zero earned runs (three unearned) on five hits, while fanning six.

Later against Western Kentucky, he pitched six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks, while striking out 10. And in his fourth outing, he pitched 5 1/3 innings against Western Carolina giving up five runs -- three earned -- on eight hits, as he struck out four.

Marks, who walked three and struck out 29 with a 1.75 ERA, is a Great Lake Canadians grad, who pitched for Adam Stern, Adam Arnold and Chris Robinson.

Toronto Mets grad Jonah Offman (Toronto, Ont.) of the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays.

Reliever _ Jonah Offman (Thornhill, Ont.) of the John Hopkins Blue Jays.

Offman made four appearances on the mound, making one start, pitching to an ERA of 1.72 in 15 2/3 innings. He struck out 26 batters.

He recorded a save against Stevens, pitching four scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and earned the win facing Plymouth State pitching six innings and striking out six.

Against St. John, Fisher allowed two runs in 2/3 of an inning and pitched six scoreless facing Roanoke, as he fanned 10.

Offman, who pitched for the Toronto Mets and coach Chris Kemlo, earned a 2020 CoSIDA All-Academic award and twice was on the Centennial Academic Honour Roll.

Catcher _ Evan Magill (Ajax, Ont.) of the Monroe Community College Tribunes.

Magill was tied for second among Canucks in the home run race with six, one behind leader Brayden Cust (Edmonton, Alta.) of the Colby Trojans. Sam Chaput (Boisbriand, Que.) of Emporia State Hornets, Colby’s Zach Olson (Red Deer, Alta.), and Magill were tied.

Magill batted .306 with a double, 19 RBIs and a 1.238 OPS. He had two-hit games in a 5-1 loss to Louisburg (solo homer) and Anne Arundel (two homers, six RBIs).

He played for the Toronto Mets and coach Chris Kemlo.

Spruce Grove White Sox and St. Francis Academy grad 1B Matt Coutney (Edmonton, Alta.) of Old Dominion.

First base _ Matt Coutney (Edmonton, Alta.) Old Dominion Monarchs.

Coutney hit .286 with two doubles, two homers and 17 RBIs as he compiled an .835 OPS in 16 games.

He started all 16 games at first base, recording a double and a single to produce a season-high four RBIs in the Monarchs’ 11-1 win over Rutgers, after getting two hits and an RBI earlier in the series in an 8-7 win. Coutney doubled, singled and knocked in a pair of runs in a 17-1 win over VMI, He had six multi-hit games.

He was elected to the Virginia All-State University Division Second Team, as voted on by the Virginia Sports Information Directors.

Coutney, who played with the Spruce Grove White Sox, and the St. Francis Academy under Rob Boik, earned Canadian Baseball Network Second Team all-Canadian honours in 2018 and 2019.

Former Toronto Met, K-State’s Daniel Carinci (Ajax, Ont.)

Second base _ Daniel Carinci (Ajax, Ont.) Kansas State University Wildcats.

After making one start at Alabama and transferring, Carinci batted .373 with seven doubles, four RBIs and a .901 OPS.

He led K-State in hitting and tied for the team lead with 22 base hits registering six multi-hit games with a pair of three-hit efforts: against Missouri and Fairleigh Dickinson. He drove in a season-high three runs in a 20-1 victory against FDU and doubled in five of the season’s final six games while recording a base hit in six of the final seven games of the year.

Carinci, who played for the Toronto Mets and coach Chris Kemlo, put together a season-long eight consecutive-game hit streak and a 14-game on-base streak to begin the year. In the field, he did not commit an error.

Ducs de Longueuil and Rocket de Coaticook alum Anthony Quirion (Dixville, Que.) of the Lamar Cardinals.

Third base _ Anthony Quirion (Dixville, Que.) Lamar Cardinals.

He started all 17 games, hitting .324 with a .500 slugging mark and a .342 on-base average. The season ended with him having a nine-game hit streak, and he hit .410 over the last 10 games with a .615 SLG and a .419 OBP.

Overall, he had 22 hits, including three doubles and three home runs with 18 RBIs. He had five multi-hit and five multi-RBI games including a career-best 5-for-5 against Prairie View A&M and a career-best five RBIs against No. 23 ranked Tulane. He finished fourth in the Southland Conference in home runs and second in RBIs. He finished second on the team in average, tied for second in doubles, first in total bases (34), first in slugging percentage, second in total hits and third in on-base percentage.

Quirion earned Canadian Baseball Network Third Team honours in 2017 and 2018. This spring he was named Pre-Season Second Team All-Southland Conference at third base and Pre-Season All-SLC by Perfect Game Scouting Service.

Quirion, who last spring earned Canadian Baseball Network Third Team honours, has played for Ducs de Longueuil and coach Mathieu Adam as well as Rocket de Coaticook and Guy Ainslie.

Shortstop _ Trei Cruz (Houston, Tex.) Rice University Owls.

The Toronto-born Cruz, and the son of former Blue Jays OF Jose Cruz, Jr., batted .328 with seven doubles, a homer and eight RBIs for a .987 OPS in 16 games. He had seven doubles, four behind the Canuck leader Tyler D’Alessandro (London, Ont.) Salem Tigers.

Like his grandfather Jose (2,251 hits in 2,353 games over a 19-year career) and his father Jose, Jr. (1,167 hits in 1,388 games over a 12-year career), Trei has the hitting gene, finishing second on the team in batting (19-of-58) when the season came to an early end. He led the Owls in doubles, runs (nine) and RBIs. He ranked among the Conference USA leaders in walks (18) for a team-best on-base percentage.

He recorded more walks than strikeouts, had six multi-hit games, including four hits against crosstown rival Houston to tie his career-high, including two doubles. He hit a home run for a three-RBI day against Missouri State, drove in two-plus runs in a game three times and hit .320 with runners on base. He played 137 of the Owls 139 defensive innings in the field (98.6%) and made just three errors.

Ontario Blue Jays grad OF Jacob Ervin (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norse

Outfielders _ Jacob Ervin (Mississauga, Ont.) Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Golden Norse; Jordan Nwogu (Ottawa, Ont.) University of Michigan Wolverines and Dayton Peters (Abbotsford, BC) Mineral Area Cardinals.

Ervin hit .475 with four doubles, a triple, two homers and 19 RBIs with a 1.287 OPS.

His best games were a 12-2 triumph over Metropolitan (double, three RBIs) and a 10-9 win against Connors State (double, triple, four RBIs).

Ervin had two-hit games in a 4-3 win against Metropolitan (double, RBI), a 10-6 loss to Eastern Oklahoma State (solo homer), an 11-2 win against Carl Albert State (RBI) and a 7-0 win against Arkansas Baptist (double, three RBIs).

A grad of the Ontario Blue Jays, Ervin played for coach Joe Ellison and Mike Steed, after playing for Mississauga North Tigers and the best groundskeeper/convenor in Mississauga (north of Burmanthorpe).

Nwogu started all 15 games in the Michigan outfield and led off every game, leading the Wolverines with a .353 batting average, a .456 slugging percentage and two home runs. He finished the season with 24 hits, two home runs and a double.

He started the 2020 campaign -- cancelled after 15 games due to the global COVID-19 pandemic -- on an eight-game hit streak. He reached base in all but one game, including 12 straight. He had eight multi-hit games, including a four-hit performance against Cal Poly.

Nwogu went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a double against UConn on February 22 and hit first home run of the season the previous day. He also had a 3-for-4 day with a stolen base against Cal Poly.

Dayton was not the only Peters on our all-Canadian ballot. Dayton and Tristan Peters, of Chandler-Gilbert, combined to hit six doubles, three triples, six homers, 25 RBIs and combined to hit .377. Dayton had an OPS of 1.296 with three doubles, a triple, four homers and 19 RBIs.

His best game production-wise might have been a 28-4 win over Kellogg when he went 4-for-5 (two homers, four RBIs).

Dayton managed three-hit outings in a 13-3 win against Frontier (double, homer, seven RBIs) and had a pair of hits in an 8-1 win against Bevill State (double, two RBIs) and in a 13-3 loss to Metropolitan.

He played for the Vauxhall Academy Jets and coach Les McTavish.

Former Saskatoon Diamondbacks DH Nolan Machibroda (Saskatoon, Sask.)

Designated hitter _ Nolan Machibroda (Saskatoon, Sask.) Southeastern University Fire.

Machibroda had two doubles, three homers and 15 RBIs in 24 games, while hitting .286 with an .896 OPS.

He was 3-for-5 against Thomas and enjoyed two hits playing Ave Maria. Machibroda hit a three-run homer facing Grand View, a solo shot against Warner and a homer, a base hit and five RBIs against Ave Maria.

Machibroda played for the Saskatoon Diamondbacks and coach Matt Kosteniuk, as well as being with Team Saskatchewan, Canada Cup winners in 2016 with coaches Greg Brons, Neil Hogg and Kosteniuk.

Elliott CBN All-Canadian College 3rd Team: Cruz, Carinci, Ervin, Magill, Nwogu