Ontario Green falls short of T12 semis despite strong finish
Kurt Dawkins connects on a pitch down-and-away. Photo Credit: Tyler King
By: Max Greenwood
Canadian Baseball Network
In the final game of round-robin action on Sunday night, the continuing trend of solid pitching from Ontario Green resulted a 6-1 victory over BC Orange. Green’s pitching staff allowed the fewest runs throughout the tournament, with only six scored against them over four games.
Boxscore: Ontario Green 6 BC Orange 1
Jonathan Burkhart started the game for Green, and looked sharp early. He allowed just one base runner through three innings and was confident in his mechanics early.
It helped that Green got off to a great start in the bottom of the first inning, as a single and pair of walks loaded the bases for Noah Myers. Myers hit into a fielder’s choice to score the first run of the game. The Green batters showed a lot of patience at the plate, waiting for pitches in the zone to swing at and not offering at anything outside.
“Maintaining a balance between a good eye and aggressiveness is tough,” said Green coach Mike Steed while discussing his team’s plate approach. “It shows a lot of discipline and maturity to be able to dial it back and manage the strike zone like that.”
Green certainly managed the zone, as the bottom of the first continued with a single, wild pitch and two walks to bring the score to 4-0. Kurt Dawkins stepped to the plate with runners on second and third and hustled out an infield single to short, plating the fifth run of the game.
B.C. Orange starter Jayden Marsh was wild early in the game, needing 31 pitches to get out of the first inning. That’s one more pitch than Green starter Burkhart used over his three total innings of work.
Marsh did come back after the first and settle down, throwing three scoreless innings. Despite the solid bounce back from their pitcher, Orange was not able to gain the momentum needed to get back into the game. Green pitching kept shining through, as Dallas Hunter, Jordan Marks and Garner Spoljaric combined for three innings of two-hit ball.
Hunter gave up two hits, both singles in the fourth inning. He clawed back and managed to strike out the final two Orange hitters in the inning.
In the sixth, Spoljaric took a hard liner to the leg off the bat of Orange hitter Rhys Cratty, but managed to make a good recovery to throw Cratty out at first base. Spoljaric eagerly stepped right back onto the mound afterwards, showing the toughness these youngsters possess.
B.C. Orange finally began to threaten in the top of the seventh, and at one point they had a bases-loaded no-out situation against Green reliever Jake English. Orange batter Brett Bass stepped to the plate and struck out looking on two pitches. English proceeded to walk in Orange’s only run of the game, but came back to strike out the final two Orange hitters swinging.
Despite the great pitching from Ontario Green (2-1-1), they will not appear in the playoffs. BC Orange (3-1-0) will be playing for the T12 championship on Monday. Their opponents in the semifinals will be Atlantic Maroon.