Tag: Baseball

Despite losing the Nationals, Concordia’s baseball club displayed a lot of character

The Concordia Stingers baseball season did not have the end they had hoped for in the 2013 season, but nonetheless exceeded expectations, considering they had a young roster.

A team that consisted of 14 rookies, manager Howie Schwartz was proud that his team was able to land a spot in the National Championship Final.

“There’s nothing we could’ve done differently so we can’t worry about it,” Schwartz said. “It’s one of the best seasons I’ve ever experienced.”

The young Stingers’ ball club were solid all season long, tallying 13 wins and only 3 losses in the regular season. They swept both their league playoff series en route to the National Championship in Windsor, Ontario. First they beat cross-city rival, the Montreal’s Carabins, in the semi-final before knocking off the Carleton Rivals in the finals. The win meant the Stingers would once again face the Ravens in Windsor.

At the Nationals, they cruised to the final going 2-1 in the Round Robin, knocking off the Ravens once more in a tight semi-final matchup. But the Stingers’ club then lost 1-0 to the hometown Windsor Lancers in a heated nine-inning battle that could have gone either way.

Despite not getting what they had hoped for at the Nationals, there’s no debating the Concordia ball club will come out even hungrier next year.

With all starters returning, and the rookies taking a step closer to become veterans on the team, Schwartz is sure that the team will be better in the coming year, and expects breakout years from some promising young individuals, notably pitcher Sam Belisle-Springer.

“Everything this kid has been asked to do, he’s able to come through. He’s young and looks like he’s in secondary two but he radiates confidence,” Schwartz said. “He’s definitely exceeded expectations this past year and I expect him to be a very big part of the pitching rotation this year.”

There are also a couple of new recruits joining the team that hope to make a strong impact for the 2014 season that will hopefully bring the National Championship to Concordia for the first time since 2009. Notably, Jonathan Raftus will make room for a recruit at shortstop as he will likely play centre field next year.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had such a strong defensive core up the middle,” said Schwartz. “It also makes things a lot better when you don’t lose any key players.”

However there is still a long way to go. Players are at the Concordia Stinger Dome on most Saturdays, refining their skills and hoping to get a little bit better and in good shape for the upcoming summer season. The Stingers players play on local teams throughout the summer before returning to Concordia in early September.

The Stingers cannot wait to create some October magic in next year’s Nationals, and they’ll have to do it no further than the confines of their own city as McGill will host the National Championships in 2014.

This past year they played with a lot of character, winning a lot of close games and coming from behind in the final innings. And they plan on carrying that character over to next season.

“We have what it takes to win it all next year,” Schwartz said. “I have high expectations and a lot of confidence in this team.”

The Concordia Stingers baseball club is in action for less than two months a year, including the playoffs. In fact this past year the regular season took place over a total of 21 days, and a deep playoff run saw them play nearly as much post-season ball as they did in the regular season. For such an intense league not only do many people put in a great deal of effort during the peak months of September and October, but the off-season preparation is just as important.

The club has held winter training sessions consistently on Saturdays from November until April, throughout the past four years.

“We’ve had [winter training] since 2009, and I’ve seen a difference in the players the following year,” said manager Howie Schwartz. “We get a chance to do things with the players that they don’t get a chance to do in their summer leagues.”

The winter training session has major benefits for the younger players on the team whom the coaches don’t know as well.

“It not only helps us develop our current players but also [gives us] a chance to see new guys coming into the program,” said assistant coach Ron Snell. “It also gives us the chance to see our rookies who didn’t get a lot of playing time during the year to show us what they have to offer.”

The players seem to be on the same page as the management, having nothing but good things to say about the training that they’re offered.

“The extra training is great and you get to stay in shape,” said Stingers veteran Andrew St-Denis. “Whenever the field finally thaws up, we’ll be ready to play.”

“For me it’s more about fine-tuning certain aspects of my game,” said catcher Jean-Christophe Paquin. “It’s more to help the guys get better.”

While the Stingers prepare for next season and extend their passion of the game of baseball to the winter months, players and coaches alike are eager to see professional baseball back in Montreal at the end of March. The Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets will square off in an exhibition series at the Olympic Stadium on March 28 and 29.

“It’s going to be great to have baseball back in Montreal, I’m sure [the Olympic Stadium] is gonna be rockin’,” said assistant coach Eddie Archer. “It can’t hurt to show that baseball is something important in Montreal.”

“I’m going to both games, so I’m really looking forward to it,” said St-Denis. “Hopefully it’ll give Montreal more exposure and hopefully get a major league team here.”

The Stingers baseball club’s love for the game is evident through their commitment to their sport at all times of the year. For many, baseball is just a summer pastime. But for the Stingers, it’s a passion that hasn’t gone unnoticed.

The Concordia Stingers baseball team displayed plenty of heart and grit against the Carleton Ravens on Saturday with an easy first win and an impressive and motivating from-behind victory in game two that showed their right to move on to the League Championship.

Game 1 recap

Stingers pitcher, Jonathan Raftus, gave an incredible performance right out of the gate, pitching a no-hitter heading into the top of the seventh.

“It was one of my best performances of the year, probably of my life actually,” Raftus said. “Hopefully I can carry the same performance [into] the nationals.”

The first five and a half innings were especially quick and low scoring  and the Stingers were lucky enough to have a 1-0 lead thanks to the base running credentials of Sam Belisle-Springer.

“They were sleeping, we jumped on them, they threw it away, got surprised, and threw it away,” said Belisle-Springer.

He would come around to score on a wild pitch on the throw to third base. The Stingers opened the floodgates in the sixth inning, scoring three runs to give them a comfortable 4-0 lead heading into the seventh inning.

“After they got their base hit, it kind of wore me down a little,” said Raftus. “I knew we just had to get the final three outs, and I knew we just had to get the win.”

The Stingers would allow the potential tying run to come to the plate, but that would be all as they won the game 4-1.

Game 2 Recap

The Stingers didn’t let the Game 1 win get to their heads, as they came out firing in the bottom of the first inning. They scored a couple of runs as the first three men gave the Stingers a bases-loaded, no-out situation. The runs were manufactured off a groundout to first base by the catcher Jean Christophe-Paquin and a sacrifice fly to left-center field from Tim Riley.

The Stingers early 2-0 lead on the Carleton Ravens was short-lived. The starting pitcher Roberto Zapata would surrender four runs in the inning to give the Ravens a 4-2 lead by the top of the second inning, a lead that only increased in the fourth when the Ravens added another pair off a solid two-run single, taking it to 6-2.

At this point Stingers manager Howie Schwartz replaced Zapata with right hard-throwing rookie pitcher, Dan Connerty, who threw nearly three innings of shutout baseball which allowed the Stingers to climb back into the game.

“It was a hell of an effort and I was just trying to keep our team in the game,” said Connerty afterwards.

The bottom of the fourth inning saw the Stingers rally and score four runs and tie the game at six after what should have been an inning-ending flyout in left centre field turned costly error that allowed three runs to score and send Andre Lagarde to third base. Second baseman Anthony Marandola’s hit would drive Lagarde in to tie the game.

While Raftus would go on to have an impeccable game at the plate, getting on base in each of his four at bats, Lagarde would once again come through with a clutch sacrifice fly to give the Stingers the lead. He then came in as the close-out in relief for Connerty and secured the victory.

“I don’t understand how you can come back in a playoff game where you’re just so out of it and flat,” said Schwartz. “They really convinced me they can do anything they want to at any time.”

Concordia will bring its squad to Windsor next weekend as they play in the Intercollegiate National Baseball Championships.

The Concordia Stingers baseball team are off to the finals after they beat the Montreal Carabins 3-2 in game two of the best-of-three series on Saturday afternoon at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Park.

The second game was a very tight match. From the very beginning, a pitcher’s duel was in the making, as Stingers’ ace Brandon Berkovits pitched what Howie Schwartz described as “his most focused performance” of what he’s seen over the last four years.

Berkovits pitched five and two/thirds innings of shutout ball, giving up no earned runs and leaving a couple of guys on base, one due to an error.

“I gave it my all. It’s probably one of the best games I’ve pitched,” said Berkovits.

Exiting with a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning, Schwartz handed the ball to the hard-throwing lefty, Andre Lagarde, who came in for his second relief performance of the day hoping to get a four-out save to secure the series victory for the Stingers.

Despite being clutch all afternoon, the two-out error in the inning proved to be costly, as a two-out, two-run single gave the Carabins their first lead of the game.

However, Stinger Peter Zidros provided his own heroics in the bottom half of the inning, slapping a two-run single to left field that eventually became the game-winning hit.

Even though he gave up two runs in the sixth inning, Lagarde returned to the mound in full confidence and closed out the game in fine fashion.

“I like the do-or-die type situations. I like that kind of stuff,” said Lagarde. “[The] team played well, [we] needed to win two games and that’s exactly what we did.”

Although the Stingers still have the league finals next weekend against Carleton University, a spot in the finals means they will travel to Windsor, Ont., to take part in the Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association Championships being held Oct. 18-20.

“I’m so excited. I went my first two years. I can’t wait!” said Lagarde.

The finals will take place next weekend with a doubleheader at Trudeau Park on Saturday beginning at noon, with a potential third game taking place in Ottawa the following day.

The Concordia Stingers came out with a 6-5 win against a feisty Université de Montréal team in game one of their best-of-three semi-final League series at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Park on Saturday afternoon.

The Carabins had taken one of two games in their double header last week in the regular season, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Stingers from finishing in first place in the standings.

The Stingers and Carabins traded runs early in the first inning, making it a 1-1 game. The Carabins would take the lead in the top of the second inning on a bases-loaded, one-out situation. Concordia attempted to complete the force-out on a ground ball hit to third base, but the runner was called safe at the plate.

Stingers pitcher Jonathan Raftus struck out the next two players to end the inning, one of his many clutch plays throughout what would prove to be a back-and-forth nail-bitter that would not be decided until the final out.

The Stingers would reply with a couple of runs of their own in the bottom half of the second inning. A bases-loaded walk and an RBI single would give the Stingers a 3-2 lead after two innings, but it could have been 4-2 if Raftus was called safe on a close play at home plate.

“I personally thought I was safe but I’ll leave that to the umpires. It didn’t change the game in the end,” Raftus said.

After Stingers catcher Jean-Christophe Paquin led off the bottom of the third inning with a slicing double down the left field line, the Stingers were unable to advance Paquin and score an insurance run as the next two players would both ground out. But then, with two outs and Paquin still at second base, the slugging first baseman Peter Zidros came to the plate and hit an absolute moonshot home run deep over the left field fence to give the Stingers some cushion and a 5-2 lead.

“It was a low-inside pitch, which is where I like it,” Zidros said. “I thought it was gone. But I had my doubts on the way to first [base].”

Manager Howie Schwartz thought differently, “I’ve been waiting 16 games for that. I knew it was gone as soon as he hit it,” he said.

Although it was no secret that the Stingers were pumped up after the home run, the adrenaline would be short-lived. The top of the fourth inning ended the worst inning for the Stingers, who gave up three runs and coughed up the lead as the Carabins tied the game five runs apiece.

Raftus would prove to help his team both on the mound and at the plate, contributing an RBI single in the fifth inning which turned out to be the go-ahead run in the 6-5 victory. “It feels good because I’ve been in a slump these last few games, it’s good to get it off my chest and help the team win,” Raftus said.

“I always like to help the team win, any way I can,” he said after the game, giving due credit to his team, “Our defense was great. Sometimes we made a few hiccup plays, but I wasn’t too worried, I knew we would bounce back and get the runs.”

Win or no win, there still remains room for improvement. “We’re gonna have to work on eliminating some of the mental mistakes and some of the mental errors we’re making out there,” said Schwartz. “I’m overall very proud. Great teams win when you’re not playing so great and that’s the case with our team.”