Queen’s Baseball snatched victory from the jaws of defeat this past weekend.
The Gaels swept a doubleheader matchup against the Carleton Ravens on Sept. 13 at Megaffin Park, by scores of 6-0 and 5-4. The second game was highlighted by a 2-out, 2 RBI walk-off single by Patrick O’Sullivan, ArtSci ’27, helping seal the sweep for the team.
The first game of the day was convincing in favour of the Gaels. With their ace Brett James, ArtSci ’28, on the mound, Queen’s struck first in the bottom of the third inning when Owen Sartor, Sci ’27, hit a two-run homerun to put the team up 2-0.
The Gaels then put up 3 runs in the next inning to extend their lead to 5-0. The team scratched across one more run in the 5th inning, which would hold for the rest of the game.
James was dominant against the Ravens, picking up 10 strikeouts in a seven-inning shutout win. The outing continues a strong start to the right-handers’ season, as James also pitched a complete game a week before against Toronto Metropolitan University in an 8-1 Gaels victory.
“What Brett James is doing is really special,” Head Coach Jeff Melrose said in an interview with The Journal after the doubleheader. “He’s worked really hard. […] Every year he’s improved his stuff. He’s throwing a ton of strikes and throwing hard. He’s a tough guy to take an at-bat against.”
The second game was more nerve-wracking for the Gaels.
After going down in an early 2-0 hole, the team battled back and took a 3-2 lead into the 7th inning. However, a fielding error in the top of the inning led to two runs for the Ravens, who took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the last inning.
Queen’s was able to get two runners in scoring position, with O’Sullivan coming up with two outs in the inning. The outfielder then singled up the middle, scoring both runners, and giving the team a 5-4 victory.
The two wins against Carleton put the Gaels at a 4-2 record, which is “right in the thick” of the playoff race, according to Melrose. The team split a doubleheader on Sept. 12 against the uOttawa Gee-Gees and split a doubleheader to begin their season against Toronto Metropolitan University on Sept. 5.
Another important part of the Gaels success this weekend was catcher Alexander Cole, ArtSci ’29, who recorded five hits on Sunday and caught all four games on the weekend. According to Melrose, Cole has now become a very important part of the team’s lineup.
“It’s very physically demanding and mentally taxing to catch four games […]. He really came through,” Melrose said. “That was kind of a breakout weekend for a guy who’s played for us in the past, but not a guy we thought of as a middle of the order bat.”
Six games into the season, Melrose is “happy with where the team is at,” but would like to see his team hit better in clutch situations going forward.
“[The] biggest area of improvement would be to swing the bat better with runners in scoring position. We’re leaving a lot of runners on base and having some poor at-bats in situations where we really need a ball in play and not strikeout,” he said.
The Gaels have four doubleheaders remaining in the regular season. Their next matchup is on the road against the University of Toronto on Sept. 19. Their last home games are a day later on Sept. 20 against Laurentian at Megaffin Park. They will conclude their season a week away from home when they play York University and Guelph University on Sept. 26 and 27.
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