By Hannah Sabaratnam

The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold baseball team split their opening series against the Ottawa Gee-Gees at Teramoto Park on Sept. 6, starting the season with a 1-1-0 record.  

“Going into game one we were all excited,” said graduate infielder Ryan Ricci. “A lot of guys graduated last year so we have a lot of new faces, so we were all excited to see what we have and what we can build with.”

The Bold won the first match 2-0, in part thanks to third-year pitcher Scott Hynes who threw five innings, allowing five hits and five walks, while striking out five batters with zero earned runs. 

“I thought my pitching performance went well, I was a little sloppy getting down in counts, I’d like to throw strikes, but overall [it was] pretty good,” said Hynes. 

The Bold scored both their runs in the third, with fourth-year infielder Armaan Memari starting the inning with a bunt to third, reaching safe at first on a Gee-Gees throwing error. Later in the inning, Ricci hit an RBI single, bringing in fourth-year center fielder Owen Hill for the first run of the game. One batter later, third-year infielder David DeStefano singled to center, bringing in Ricci for another run. 

Despite Gee-Gees second-year starting pitcher Hayden McGrath striking out seven batters, Ottawa could not put up any runs against the Bold. 

Moving into the second game, the Bold got off to a good start. In the first inning, third-year pitcher Luca Primomo retired all three batters in order. However, in the second inning the Gee-Gees opened the scoring on fourth-year third baseman Ansh Ghosh’s groundball, driving in third-year first baseman Brennan Hedrick. 

Later in the fourth, TMU got on the board with DeStefano’s two-run homer to center field, bringing the score to 3-2 for Ottawa.

“I saw a 1-0 fastball and I thought I’d swing out of my shoes and I connected,” said DeStefano. 

While the Bold did get a couple more base runners later in the game, the team could not bring them in to score. The Gee-Gees held the Bold to just three hits and three walks.  

Overall, the Bold were unsatisfied with their performance. Defense was a problem for them, committing multiple errors in the game, giving up 10 hits and allowing nine runs, seven of which were earned.  

“We weren’t there to play and we definitely could’ve done better,” said DeStefano. 

UP NEXT: The Bold will play their next series against the Carleton University Ravens on Sept. 7 at Talbot Park. First pitch starts at 12 p.m.