By Hannah Sabaratnam

The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold baseball team dropped two match-ups against the University of Toronto (U of T) Varsity Blues on Sept. 27 at Dan Lang Field to end their regular season. 

“We know we’re better than that,” said fourth-year catcher/outfielder Ben Barzo. “Losing two games to U of T is really bad. This is our rival.” 

The Bold were immediately in the hole when U of T fourth-year infielder/outfielder Sam Aslanowicz homered to left field on the second pitch of the game, off of starting pitcher fourth-year Callum Wilson. The next two batters, graduate infielder Spenser Ross and second-year pitcher Diego Fuentes—who played on the field in today’s match—reached first safely in their at-bats, with the latter bringing in Ross to score. After a couple walks, Wilson retired the remaining three batters to end the inning. 

Moving to the third, the Blues started the inning with fourth-year infielder Kirk Gibson’s flyball to pickoff of first-year pitcher Shane Berlad. After fourth-year infielder Carter Hercun reached first on a walk, he moved to second on a stolen base during third-year infielder Ryan Hsu’s at-bat. Hercun later moved to third on a wild pitch during the same at-bat. Hsu eventually walked to first as well, setting up first-year outfielder Peter Zidros’s double, bringing in Hercun and Hsu. 

The fifth and the sixth featured more runs from the Blues, with the only clean inning without a baserunner being the seventh, during which the Bold were down 8-0. 

As for the TMU’s offence, they could only bring home runners in the last inning. The Bold recognize they need to get their bats swinging earlier. 

“We need to have more energy from the get-go,” said Barzo. “We’ve struggled this year a bit with showing up on time…we tend to have late game success because we come alive.” 

Looking to make a comeback, third-year infielder/pitcher Kai Ilao started the inning with a single to left. Two batters later, Barzo also singled. On graduate catcher/infielder Ryan Ricci’s single, Ilao came home, moving Barzo to second base. Pinch runner first-year infielder/pitcher Tim Antalan came in for Ricci. Next, third-year infielder David DeStefano singled to load the bases. Another single by fourth-year pitcher/outfielder Parker Bailey drove in Barzo. A strikeout by first-year outfielder/pitcher Lucas Vincent ended the inning, cutting the comeback short. 

Onto the second game, third-year pitcher Scott Hynes took the mound. He pitched a clean first inning, retiring all three batters in order. In the second, on a pickoff attempt during Hsu’s at-bat, Hercun moved to second on Hynes’ throwing error. One batter later, Zidros hit a single to bring in Hercun, as U of T took a 1-0 lead. 

In the third, Aslanowicz hit his second home run of the day, this time off of fourth-year pitcher Mikael Aqui. Aqui retired the next batter on a fly ball—however, after the next three batters reached first safely, another pitching change was made, bringing in Antalan. TMU would concede four more runs before the end of the inning.

The fourth and fifth innings featured much of the same. The Bold continued to give up runs, capping off this stretch with a run batted in (RBI) single by Hercun. The fifth also featured another pitching change by the Bold, with third-year pitcher Alex Martin entering the game. Once the top half of the fifth concluded, the Bold would be down 11-0. 

In the bottom half of the fifth, the Bold were still looking to end the Blues’ starting pitcher, fourth-year Ethan Kwong’s no-hitter and keep the game alive. 

To lead off the inning, fourth-year outfielder Owen Hill hit a single to right field. 

“I got a breaking ball in the dirt [on] the first pitch…and I swung over it, so I kind of had to get into my two strike approach a little bit early,” said Hill. “[I] got a fastball over the plate [and] just put a good swing on it.” 

Soon after, first-year infielder Josh Lang hit a single, this time to left field. However, the next three Bold batters would strike out, ending the game via the mercy rule—when a team leads by 10 runs after the completion of five innings, the game is over. 

NEXT UP: Oct. 3 marks the start of the post-season. Regardless of standings, all teams qualify. The Bold will be going up against the Laurentian University Voyageurs at David Dash Memorial Field. First pitch is at 2:00 p.m.