October 15, 2023

Official University of Toronto Athletics News Release

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues baseball team claimed provincial gold, defeating the Waterloo Warriors 6-5 in extra innings on Sunday (Oct. 15) afternoon at Bernie Arbour Memorial Stadium in Hamilton.

The victory marked the second OUA banner for Toronto over the last three seasons, along with the seventh provincial championship for Blues baseball since 2001. The win also marked the first for new head coach Andrew Needles as he completed his first full season leading the U of T program.

"It's an amazing feeling," said Needles. "For me it was personally fulfilling, bringing in some coaches and colleagues who gelled well with some of the coaches who were already here. I had full faith in this team and it is just so rewarding to see it all come to fruition at the very end. The best group of players I have ever coached."

Regrouping after a Saturday weather delay forced the championship final to be pushed to Sunday, both the Blues and Warriors received strong pitching with a 0-0 stalemate through the first two innings of action. However, Waterloo were able to break through in the third, scoring three runs to jump ahead.

"Waterloo are one of the best teams in the league," noted veteran Blues catcher Kristyan Puyol-Gennosar about the championship final opponents. "They bring a lot of good pitching and a lot of good players, and they’re just as loud as us when it comes to backing their guys, so when you go against a team like them you have to do your best to make sure you are mentally prepared to just chip away."

Appearing in relief of Toronto starting pitcher Kento Moriyoshi, first-year standout Clayton Winteler helped to stall the Warriors offence, delivering 4 2/3 innings with just one additional run conceded on four hits.

Trailing 4-1 entering the seventh inning, Needles continued to push his message that has driven the Blues late in the season.

"Our mantra for the last few weeks has really been 0-0," explained Needles. "Whether we were up or down that was the mentality. I told them we've already prepared, we knew what to do, and the guys came out ready to play."

Providing the momentum shift for the Blues was timely runs as Toronto were able to take advantage of their patience at the plate, aggressive base-running, and untimely Waterloo errors to score three runs and tie the game entering the ninth inning.

This offensive output was also buoyed in combination by two crucial defensive plays in the late innings. First in the seventh inning, Puyol-Gennosar tossed a perfectly placed throw to catch a Waterloo runner stealing. Then U of T collected another pick-off in the eighth as relief pitcher Easton Kirkpatrick made a quick throw to second from the mound, catching another Waterloo runner drifting from the base.

"Pick-offs have always been a big part of our program," said Needles. "It can literally be a game-changing outcome, which we practice a lot. We don't like having other teams take liberties on the bases with us, so we work on it and it was really great seeing the guys being able to put it to use in the game."

All tied 4-4 entering the ninth inning, the final would be pushed into extra innings with the Blues first to bat. Momentum firmly on their side, Toronto's offence delivered once again as a line drive double from Matt Myhal drove in Jakob Cellupica from second, and a single from Sam Aslanowicz brought home Myhal for an insurance marker late in the contest.

Shifting to the bottom half of the inning, Toronto turned to third-year outfielder Owen Taylor to step in and close the game from the pitching mound. The 6-foot-2 commerce major proved to be up to the moment, forcing a first out pop fly, before striking out the final two Warriors batters to secure the victory.

"That was something we haven't really used and been keeping in our back pocket, bringing in Owen from centre field to close out games, so I think we used it at exactly the right moment," explained Needles.

Following the final out of the game, the Blues players stormed the field in celebration, capping off another championship season for the Blue and White. Puyol-Genossar explained the euphoria that came with the final out.

"This was probably the best final I have been a part of, and it is pretty hard to beat a feeling like this. This mean's everything to me. Two years ago in 2021 we were able to have a perfect season – last year we had our ups-and-downs throughout the year – but for me this year with all the guys that were graduating, it was something special."