One Down, One to Go
Stingers Baseball Team Advances
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Concordia’s baseball team moved on to the conference finals—earning themselves a trip to the nationals in Moncton—after shutting down the McGill Redmen on Monday in Game 3 of the conference semi-finals in a 9-0 decision.
The top-ranked Stingers were relieved to close out the three-game series, winning the last two match-ups after a shocking 9-3 loss against the Redmen, the fourth place team in their conference.
Tensions rose between the third and fourth innings of the first game, with the Redmen putting up four runs against an earlier unanswered Stingers team who had brought in two. The Stingers were unable to score from then on. A spotty pitching game and overall lack of confidence led to Concordia’s 9-3 defeat to the chagrin of their coach.
“We did not play at all. We made some bad pitches in some bad situations,” said Stingers head coach Howard Schwartz. “Our hitting was flat, we struck out nine times—we did everything wrong.”
Predictions of sweeping the series were smashed, but the Stingers remained hopeful.
“In situations like this, [the team] draws on focus and the discipline that they have, and when they do that they come out swinging and winning,” said Concordia athletic director Katie Sheahan at the time. “I’m confident that if they do this, we will be back here tomorrow at noon.”
“I couldn’t ask for a better game… My defense was excellent. If I let up any hits, I knew that they were right there to make the plays, and all I had to do was worry about each batter one at a time,” Stingers pitcher Brandon Bercovits
After the Stingers took the second game 5-2 to even the series, their sights were set on the next afternoon, as one more ‘W’ would mean moving on to the conference finals and a direct entry to the nationals.
The match started slow, with McGill managing to keep Concordia from running away with things. In the top of the fifth, however, the Stingers pumped out a four-run barrage to effectively seal the deal.
Starting pitcher Brandon Bercovits pitched a full game, eventually shutting out the Redmen team.
The Stingers defense proved to be impenetrable even after a worrisome fifth inning that saw McGill put a couple runners closer to home, but thanks to some solid fielding, the shutout stayed alive.
“I couldn’t ask for a better game… My defense was excellent. If I let up any hits, I knew that they were right there to make the plays, and all I had to do was worry about each batter one at a time,” Bercovits said.
Meanwhile, despite taking the first game of the series, it was the reigning national champions walking off with the long faces.“This game was close for a while we let it get away. I thought after we came out big in Game 1 that we could do it,” said Redmen head coach Ernie D’Alessandro.
“I thought we could upset them. We had a good mindset; Game 2 was tight, it could have gone either way… We got a couple runs late, but we dropped it.”
The Stingers will face the Carleton Ravens on Oct. 15 in a battle to be crowned conference champions. The action starts at 12:00 p.m.
