Humber captures silver at OCAA championship tourney

By Tyler Milton

Humber Athletics

TECUMSEH, Ont. - Humber came into action on Saturday guaranteed a medal, but with a win or go-home situation for the Hawks; their backs were up against the wall. A great team win, coming back from a 6-0 deficit early in game one to win 7-6 and a tough loss in game two losing 1-0, netting the Hawks their first silver medal in program history.

Humber 7 Fanshawe 6
A win and they're in, that was the mentality going into this game. Taking each pitch, each at-bat at a time. Entrusted with getting the Hawks rolling was right-hander Tyler Greenwood. Greenwood in this outing would struggle as he would only last 1/3 of an inning, allowing five runs, four earned, walking four and allowing just one hit.

Head coach Denny Berni turned to right-hander Matt Stoddart to stop the bleeding. Stoddart would go 2 2/3 innings allowing a run on five hits, striking out two before passing the ball off to iron man Steven Hough. Hough was masterful, holding the Falcons off the board in his four innings of work. Hough would pick up the win in the bottom of the seventh.

Offensively, the relentless Humber lineup would not go down without a fight. The Hawks would plate a run in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth, two more in the sixth before walking off the Falcons in the bottom half of the seventh. Dennis Dei Baning would go 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Liam Sutherland would pick up his only hit of the game, and it was a big one, to walk off Fanshawe and advance to the gold-medal game.

St. Clair 1 Humber 0
After a gutsy team win in their previous game, Humber would take on a St. Clair team that blew them out no more than 18 hours earlier. In this matchup, it was the complete opposite as both pitchers would be excellent from start to finish.

For Humber, they would send right-hander Rory Pollard to the bump to get the Hawks another win. Pollard was superb going six stellar innings allowing one run (unearned), on four hits, two walks and six strikeouts.

Unfortunately for Humber, their offence fell quiet only accumulating three hits in the game. In the seventh inning, Humber would threaten to tie the game with a runner on second but couldn't cash the runner in with two outs.

Humber Notes

- Humber earns their first silver medal in program history

- Justin Marra and Steven Hough were selected to the OCAA tournament all-star team

What's Next
Humber has a few days off as they prepare for the CCAA National Championship which takes place from October 26 to 28 in Oshawa.

Canadians in CollegeTyler MiltonOctober 22, 2017