Ontario university postseason baseball will feature blue, gold, and red this October.
After a month and a half of OUA regular season play, the Queen’s Baseball team are one step closer to their goal, clinching a playoff spot in the OUA Baseball Championship. The Gaels finished the season with a record of 8-4, earning third place in the league behind the 10-2 Brock Badgers and 9-3 Toronto Varsity Blues.
The OUA Championship is a double elimination style, with the top six teams making the tournaments and the top two teams receiving byes. The tournament is played over the thanksgiving weekend, rotating hosts each year. This year the first place Badgers will host at two premium venues: Welland Stadium and Oakes Park Stadium in Niagara Falls.
To recap the regular season and speak to the upcoming playoffs, The Journal sat down with Gaels player Jack White, Comm ’27.
White was blunt with recapping the season, stating “we battle a lot of adversity.” The team had to endure setbacks in two important parts of their lineup due to injury, losing their catcher and first baseman.
Despite this, White talked about the value of guys stepping up when needed.
“Our catcher [Alex Cole, ArtSci ’29] has been playing four games a weekend,” White said. “The teams really battled through and [are] getting some gritty wins.”
A big part of that success is how their defence and pitching have put them in this place. The Gaels have surrendered the least amount of runs in the OUA.
“It’s been crucial for us, the pitching has been attacking hitters but also not walking guys,” White said. The Gaels had the second lowest bases on balls as a pitching staff in the regular season. “We have a super deep pitching staff, and everyone has played their role perfectly.”
Going into this final weekend, White acknowledged the bitter sweetness of playing his last OUA playoffs in a Gaels uniform.
“I wouldn’t rather do it with another team. This team has been amazing, and I couldn’t pick a better group of guys to do it with.”
The Gaels will look to continue their gritty style of pitching and defence in the hopes of capturing their first OUA Championship since 2022.
Tags
Men's baseball, OUA, OUA championships
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TC
All the best boys!