Stingers punch ticket to nationals

Mark Nadler tries to tag out a McGill runner at third base in Concordia’s game one loss on Sunday afternoon. Photo by Navneet Pall

The Concordia Stingers will be returning to the CIBA National Championship this season, after defeating the defending champion McGill Redbirds two games to one on Sunday and Monday.
The Stingers have performed better this season than even their manager, Howard Schwartz, could have imagined after losing three starting pitchers from last year’s team.
“I figured we would be 8-8 or 7-9 this season,” said Schwartz, whose team went 13-3 this year. “When you lose three starting pitchers you never think you’re going to be able to come and have this strong of a [season]. We knew we had the best defence in the league, but our pitchers are the reason we are here.”

Mark Nadler tries to tag out a McGill runner at third base in Concordia’s game one loss on Sunday afternoon. Photo by Navneet Pall

The Stingers, though, did face a bit of turmoil in the first game of the series.
Sending their ace, Alex Kechayan, to the mound for game one of the series seemed like a safe bet for Concordia. Kechayan had not lost a single game in his entire career at Concordia and had a streak of 29 consecutive scoreless innings going.
Kechayan, though, pitched one of his worst games in a Stingers uniform getting touched up for eight hits and two walks in just 5.1 innings, allowing eight earned runs (nine total) and gave up two home runs.
“I think that brought me down to earth a bit,” said Kechayan. “I don’t know if I was feeling over-confident, but I would always just go out there thinking I needed to get a shutout.”
Kechayan’s shaky start, combined with the Stingers’ batters stranding 15 runners on base, resulted in a 9-3 McGill victory, and put the Stingers on the brink of elimination heading into the second half of the Sunday doubleheader.
“We did everything wrong,” said Schwartz. “I told the guys the season will end today unless we make some changes.”
The team answered his call.
With the season on the line the Stingers handed the ball to starting pitcher Matthew Jacobson who, like Kechayan, had not lost all season.
“I was a bit nervous before the game,” Jacobson said, “but I knew if I just pitched how I could the defence would help me out and they did.”
Jacobson would give up a run in the first inning, but the Stingers, staring elimination in the face, managed to score two runs in the bottom of the inning, off an Andre Lagarde two-run double.
With the game tied at two in the bottom of the fifth inning, the pressure was again on the Concordia bats, and again, they came through.
Lagarde had runners on second and third in a crucial moment of the game. After a wild pitch scored the runner on third, Lagarde was able to get a hit to drive in the second run and give Concordia a 4-2 lead.
Jacobson only allowed one McGill runner in the final two innings for the complete game win, as the Stingers tacked another run on the board for a 5-2 victory, and forced a decisive game three.
“I thought after game one we really had a chance to (eliminate) them,” said McGill manager Ernie Dalessandro. “The game could have gone either way, but they got a couple runs late and that was it.”
In the win-or-go-home game on Monday, Concordia’s starting pitching depth allowed the team to prevail.
Brandon Berkovits pitched the game of his life striking out nine Redbirds, while scattering just five hits over seven innings for the complete game shutout win.
The 8-0 victory was perhaps the most complete effort put forth by the Stingers all season. Every Stingers batter either had scored a run, got a hit or an RBI.
Third baseman Marco Masciotra was especially potent with the stick for Concordia in game three.
Masciotra finished the afternoon 4-4, with a walk, four RBI, and two runs. Perhaps most importantly, though, was the timeliness of his hitting. His RBI single in the first inning gave Concordia an early lead, and his RBI double in the fifth inning all but put the game out of reach for McGill.
Before the CIBA National Championship tournament, though, Concordia will face Carleton in the Quebec Conference finals. However, because the CIBA tournament has expanded to an eight team format, a team only has to reach their conference’s finals to receive a berth in the tournament. So win or lose, both teams will be contending for a national championship—something Schwartz is not fond of.
“We’re going (to nationals) no matter what, so I think that really takes something out of (the series against Carleton),” said Schwartz. “It’s going to be a challenge to stay focused, but we’re going to be playing for pride and stuff outside of just baseball.”

The Stingers will face the Carleton Ravens on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 12 p.m. at Trudeau Park.

Related Posts