Baseball: Stingers Show No Mercy to Carabins

Concordia Wins 15-5 After 15-Point Inning

SportsHarrison-Milo Rahajason — Published September 14, 2016

Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning of the Stingers’ first home game of the season, the Carabins held a commanding 5-0 lead while the Stingers had yet to record a hit. Carabins starting pitcher Charlie L’Oignon had been close to perfect through his first five innings, only allowing one Stinger batter to reach base; a 2nd inning hit by pitch.

“How do you come back from losing two at Carleton to [suffering a no-hitter]? That’s just hard to come back from,” said Stingers head coach Howard Schwartz.

What happened next was the most unbelievable endings anyone had ever seen.

“I’ve been doing this for 22 years,” said Schwartz. “And I have never seen anything like this.”

Stingers third baseman Sam Fagen was the first batter up in the bottom of the sixth inning, and was issued a walk to become just the second Stinger baserunner of the game. But still, L’Oignon was only six outs away from registering a no-hitter.

The second batter up was second baseman Nicolas Cote, whose weakly struck dribbling shot in the infield was just slow enough to allow him to beat the throw to first base and give the Stingers their first base hit of the game. The no-hitter was over, and the Stingers had to make the most of this chance with runners on first and second base with no out to have any shot at a comeback.

And they did.

Following a fly-out off the bat of centerfielder Roberto Zapata, the Carabins would allow the next eight Stingers to reach base, giving up seven runs, and the lead in the process. Zapata would strike out in his second at-bat of the inning for what would be the last out recorded in the game.

Five more walks with the bases loaded, a wild pitch and an runs batted in double by pinch-hitter Mathieu Paquette-Groulx brought in the eight runs needed to enforce the mercy rule, and effectively end the game.

“I’m not sure if I’ve ever been part of a ten-run inning before,” said Concordia pitcher Sam Springer during the prolonged rally. “But I know I have never been part of a 13-run inning.”

Just when it looked like the Stingers were going to come home from a two loss outing in Ottawa to open their season, only to be no-hit by The Carabins at home, they completed one of the most improbable comeback wins imaginable. A walk-off, mercy rule 15-run inning to win 15-5.

“I’m really not sure,” said Schwartz candidly when asked to what he’d attribute the comeback. “This is the wildest game, and I’ve been around baseball for a couple hundred years now and that’s the wildest game I’ve ever seen.”

The Stingers will have a few days off before a crucial early-season clash against rival McGill on Thursday evening at Trudeau park. It will be an important test for the Stingers, and their first chance to see how they stack up against the team they think they’ll be battling for first place with.

“A game like [Monday night’s game] could give them enough spark to get it going,” said Schwartz.