The Varsity Blues baseball team erupted for five unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure their first OUA title since 2003 with an 8-4 victory over the Western Mustangs on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 23) at Bechtel Park in Waterloo, Ont.

Under the guidance OUA coach of the year Jim Sheppard, the Blues went a perfect 3-0 on the weekend to earn their third OUA championship in the last 11 years.

Blues starter Andrew Bergman of Pickering, Ont., pitched against his former team and had a quick three-up, three-down top of the first.  The Blues carried that momentum to the plate by cashing in two runs, first when Jamie Lekas (Toronto) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, followed by an RBI infield single by Josh Jakymyc.

Western would cut the lead in half in the top of the third, but the Blues quickly responded in the bottom half.  Harrison Carmichael of Charlottetown led off with a single and he moved to third on a double by Lekas down the third base line.  After a Jakymyc strikeout, Kyle Bowers executed a perfect suicide squeeze bunt scoring Carmichael and restoring the Blues two-run lead.

Western scored three in the top of the seventh, aided by a two-run throwing error by Bergman, to take a 4-3 lead.

The rally for the Varsity Blues in the bottom of the eighth started with one out when Jonathan Sartor (Stouffville, Ont.) hit a hard ground ball to the hole that wasn't fielded cleanly by the Western shortstop. 

After a walk to lead-off hitter Steve Hersch, both Sartor and Hersch successfully completed a double steal, two of the Blues eight on the day, putting both runners in scoring position. 

Toronto native Jonathan Isaac struck out looking to set the stage for Brent Page.  Page hit a slow roller towards the second basemen, who had to charge and, after not fielding it cleanly, rushed his throw and threw it away allowing both Blues base runners to score and regain a 5-4 lead. 

Seizing on the momentum, three consecutive run scoring hits by Carmichael, Lekas and Jakymyc put the game out of reach at 8-4.

Tyler Wilson of Port Hope, Ont., who pitched all 10 innings in the semi-final victory over the Laurier Golden Hawks yesterday, came into the game in the ninth inning and closed the deal on the victory.


SATURDAY RECAP:

The Blues booked their ticket into the OUA championship finals with two big wins on Saturday.

The opening games of the championship, which were resumed after play was suspended the weekend before, saw two upsets take place as the fourth-seeded Golden Hawks ran past the top-seeded Badgers 14-4 while the third-seeded Varsity Blues won a pitching duel 2-0 over the second-seeded Mustangs.

Toronto and Laurier then squared off for the right to go direct to the championship game. After the two teams were tied at two through nine innings, Toronto won the game on a bases-loaded single by Andrew Mannone of Scarborough, Ont.

Toronto and Western will now take to the field on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. at Betchel Park in Waterloo. If Toronto wins, they will be declared the 2011 OUA Championship while a win by Western will force one final game where the winner of that contest will be declared the champion.

SATURDAY

Game 1 - Brock 4 - Laurier 14 (Final)
Game 2 - Western 0 - Toronto 2 (Final)
Game 3 – Brock 7 - Western 10 (Final)
Game 4 - Laurier 2 - Toronto 3 (Final) (Extra Innings)
Game 5 - Western 11 - Laurier 2 (Final)  

SUNDAY

Game 6 – Toronto 8 – Western 4 (Final)
Note: Tournament is a double knockout format