A promising season came to a disappointing end for the men’s baseball team last weekend. They dropped both games of their doubleheader against the York University Lions, eliminating them from the postseason.
The Gaels started the game off on a high note with Graham Fulton scoring two runs in the first inning on a two-RBI single. With momentum from the first inning, Queen’s went out and scored two more runs in the bottom of the second inning, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead. The Lions scored two runs later in the game to narrow the Queen’s lead to 4-2.
Later, with two outs and no one on base, the Lions score two runs in the seventh inning to tie the game and send it into extra innings.
Gaels’ pitcher Mike Bertoia relieved starting pitcher Jesse Kugler, and kept the game tied until the ninth inning.
The Lions scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning and the Gaels were unable to mount a comeback in the bottom, leaving the final score at 6-4. Queen’s left 11 men stranded during the game.
Game two was very different but the final result was the same.
Queen’s couldn’t recover from game one, and despite good pitching and defense, the Gaels found themselves down 3-0 in the seventh inning.
Gaels head coach Tom Reid said his team’s bats couldn’t generate any momentum, scoring only one run in the bottom of the seventh. Queen’s lost 3-1.
Reid said rookie Steven Nagy put in a strong performance. He was 2 for 3 in game one and 1 for 3 including a double in game two.
Queen’s finished 7-5 in the regular season, good for second in their three-team division. York finished third.
For the most part the Gaels are a young team but Reid said he was still disappointed with the result.
“We came into the year looking to build on last year, and we did that, but once the playoffs came around, we underachieved in the crunch,” he said.
However, Coach Reid has high goals for next year.
“I wish for the team to make the playoffs again, but this time advance to the Nationals,” Reid said. “We are going to have a lot of returning players, and we’re going to go at it again.”
Graduating player Dave Shorrock, who batted close to .500 this season, one of the best averages in the country said he is optimistic about the future of the team.
“We’ve got a great core of rookies going into the future.”
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