Author: Derek Swales

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Sports

Stingers edged out by Redmen

The Stingers lost on a walk-off pitch at the end of the game. Photos by Derek Swales.

Concordia’s baseball team battled hard but lost on a walk-off pitch to McGill

The Stingers held their own and played as though they were capable of beating a strong Redmen team at Gary Carter Field on Sept. 21, but fell just short, losing by a score of 4-3.

“The team did well enough to win, we just didn’t get enough hits,” said Stingers manager Howie Schwartz.

The Stingers only managed to get three hits the entire game, which was a drastic decline from this past weekend where they got 26 hits in a doubleheader against Carleton. However, the Stingers still never actually trailed in the game until the moment that McGill pinch-runner Zachary Aaron stole home and scored after the wild pitch from Stingers pitcher Sam Belisle-Springer at the end the game.

The Stingers were able to get runners on base due to a few uncharacteristic errors by the Redmen defense and some control issues from McGill starting pitcher Henry Dennis.

“We got good at bats, we just didn’t hit the ball well,” Schwartz said. The Stingers weren’t able to take advantage of those baserunners, stranding the bases loaded in the first inning.

The Stingers however would not blow the same opportunity twice. After loading up the bases again in the second inning, catcher Dario Vincelli hit a bases clearing double to give the Stingers an early 3-0 lead.

Control issues by Concordia starting pitching, leading to a high number of walks has been an issue so far this season. However, Stingers starting pitcher Sami Brochu was firing on all cylinders against the Redmen.

He was cruising along until McGill was finally able to get to him with a few hits in the fourth inning to tie up the game 3-3.

“McGill deserved the runs they got, those were some solid hits and credit to them, you can’t say anything bad about Brochu, he didn’t make any mistake pitches,” Schwartz said. Brochu pitched four and two thirds of an inning, striking out five batters while allowing five hits and two walks.

The Stingers failed to take advantage of baserunners once again, this time in the sixth inning stranding runners on second and third base. This led to McGill squeaking two base hits through the middle of the infield in the seventh inning, eventually leading to the wild pitch walk-off.

“That’s just the way the game goes, sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t, turns out tonight it didn’t go our way,” Schwartz said. Schwartz added that he expects more of the same effort and intensity from his team for the remainder of the season.

It will be a quick turnaround for the Stingers as they will host the Montreal Carabins on Sept. 22 at Gary Carter Field. The Stingers currently sit at a record of 3-4.

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Sports

Stingers mercy rule Ravens in back-to-back games

Concordia’s offense was simply too much for Carleton University

The hot bats of the Concordia Stingers baseball team lead the team to decisive back-to-back mercy rule victories against the Carleton Ravens at Gary Carter field on Sept. 18. The Stingers won the first game of the day 13-3, and the second 11-1.

In the first game, it took the Stingers a couple of innings to get warmed up, but after falling behind 3-0 after an inning and a half of play, the Stingers began to chip away, eventually exploding for eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. They scored 13 unanswered runs, forcing mercy rule after six innings of play.

In Game two, the Stingers jumped on the Ravens early, taking a 6-0 lead after two innings. With another offensive explosion in the fourth inning, this time for five runs, the Stingers needed four and a half innings to mercy rule the Ravens again.

“A lot of timely hitting today is exactly what I know this team is capable of doing,” Stingers manager Howie Schwartz said. Schwartz added that the team was disciplined at the batter plate.

Every player who went up to bat for the Stingers got on base at least once, and they combined for a total of 26 hits in the two games. Centre-fielder Mathieu Paquette-Groulx led the charge in game one with three hits and four runs batted in (RBI’s), while catcher Dario Vincelli had two hits and led the team with three RBI’s in the second game.

The one cause for concern was the amount of walks allowed by the Stingers starting pitchers. “That’s been our nemesis the first six games,” Schwartz said. “We’re walking way too many guys, having a hard time finding the plate; a lot of mechanical issues.”

Stingers pitcher Dan Connerty lasted three and two thirds of an inning, walking seven batters, while pitcher Shane Mullen, in game two, walked three batters in only two innings before leaving the game with an apparent elbow injury. Despite the walks, Schwartz wasn’t worried about his pitchers.

“I have no problem,” Schwartz said. “They’ll come back, they’re much better than that, it’s not like them.”

One bright spot for the pitching staff was five year veteran Matthew Adams-Whitaker, who came in as relief for both games and closed them out. He totaled five and a third innings pitched between both games, allowing only one hit and one run. He now has three straight relief appearances where he has allowed one run or less.

“I’ve seen teams take a while to get the chemistry going—with this team it was right there, even from training camp. They just haven’t translated it onto the field yet,” Schwartz said.

However, Schwartz feels like Sunday might have been the start of something, telling his players after the game that “our season began today.”

The Stingers will have a chance to continue their momentum on Sept. 21, when they get to take on their divisional rivals the McGill Redmen at Gary Carter Field.

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Sports

Stingers fall to McGill after wild inning

Concordia’s Dario Vincelli up at the plate in Thursday’s home loss. Photo by Michael Maclean.

Concordia loses out on valuable points in loss to McGill

The Concordia Stingers miniature two-game winning streak came to an end by losing 6-0 to the hands of their cross-town rivals, the McGill Redmen. The Canadian Collegiate Baseball Association game was played at Gary Carter Field in Cote Saint-Luc.

Concordia’s Dario Vincelli up at the plate in Thursday’s home loss. Photo by Michael Maclean.

Concordia’s Shane Mullen pitched a solid game, but didn’t have a lot of help behind him. He went six innings, allowing seven hits with three strikeouts in the loss. McGill’s pitcher Adriano Petrangelo got the win as he pitched a complete game, allowing only three hits and one walk. He also had eight strikeouts, seven where he caught the Stingers batters looking.

The Stingers made an error on the opening play, which was then followed up by McGill’s Tyler Welence making them pay with an RBI double. Concordia tried to answer back right away in their home half of the inning. Robert Zapata and Matthew Litwin started things off with back-to-back singles, trying to get after Petrangelo early like they did in their previous encounter.

Petrangelo would get out of it this time around all by himself with consecutive strikeouts, with the Stingers stranding a runner on third base.

The second inning would prove to be costly for the Stingers. A hit batter, wild pitch and two errors mixed with timely hitting from the Redmen would give them a five run outburst, putting Concordia down 6-0. The Stingers would only allow three hits after that for the remainder of the game, but the damage was already done. McGill would cruise for the most part from great pitching by Petrangelo and reliable defence, going on a stretch of retiring 10 out of 11 batters at one point.

The closest Concordia came to a rally was in the bottom half of the fifth. Jonathan Raftus got things started with a one out single that seemed to get the players in the dugout fired up. Alex Hall would then get on base by taking a pitch to the shoulder. Vito Pagliuca then came up to bat and worked a walk, the only one Petrangelo would allow all game. That would load the bases for their leadoff hitter Robert Zapata.

He struck-out looking on a questionable and controversial strike three pitch. Matthew Litwin would pop out to the centerfielder to end the inning. Petrangelo would shut the door the remainder of the game, striking out three of the last seven batters he faced. Pitching and defence made the difference.

Four out of Concordia’s seven mistakes ended up costing them runs. The Stingers weren’t able to get too many men on base. When they would put the ball in play the Redmen players were there on a regular basis to make the play.

The loss brings the Stingers season record to 7-3, and they’re still searching for their first win vs the Redmen this season. McGill has won six games in a row and the result from the game now puts both teams in a tie atop the CCBA Northern Division standings.

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