By Hannah Sabaratnam

Late inning collapses, comebacks that never were and a controversial call would define the postseason for the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold baseball team.

From Oct. 3-4, the Bold dropped all three of their Ontario University Athletics (OUA) postseason games, thus eliminating themselves from the OUA qualifier finals, which they will miss for the second straight season.

The weekend started against the Laurentian University Voyageurs at David Dash Memorial Field in Brampton, Ont. The first inning started with a strikeout. Shortly after, the Bold hit four straight singles to gain an early 2-0 lead and later brought the score to 6-1 by the end of the fourth inning.

“It was frustrating that we didn’t get the job done”

Despite this, the bottom of the fifth saw the Bold start to lose their lead. After a stream of Laurentian players reached the bases, second-year utility player Kyle Kennedy hit a double to right field, as three runs came into score. 

A couple batters later, another single brought home one run, bringing the score to 6-5 for the Bold. An inning later, the Voyageurs tied the game and scored four more runs to cap off a five-run inning. All of a sudden, the Bold found themselves in a four-run deficit after leading by five. Bats for the blue and gold went quiet until the eighth inning but they only managed to score one run. Immediately, the Bold were down 0-1 to start their postseason.

“It was a really demoralizing feeling,” said fourth-year outfielder Owen Hill. “[It’s] a game that we knew, not that we could have won but that we should have won.”

After the tough loss, the Bold had one more game for the evening, with it being a must-win. Again, TMU got off to an early 2-0 lead, keeping their opponent the York University Lions’ bats at bay, limiting them to three hits in the first five innings. However, the sixth inning would flip the game on its head, as the Lions scored five runs bringing the score to 5-2. As this matchup carried on, Bold assistant coach Kevin MacDonald’s mind went to previous games with similar outcomes. 

“I was kind of thinking, ‘here we go again’,” said MacDonald. “Once we kind of fell flat halfway through the game…[York] started taking advantage of it.”

Moving into the ninth, the score sat at 6-4 for the Lions. With two outs and a man on first, third-year infielder/pitcher Kai Ilao hit a flyball to right field. It seemed like the Bold—and York coaches, according to MacDonald—agreed the ball went over the fence regardless of it hitting a tree branch and ricocheting back onto the field. MacDonald was next to the umpire who had the call on the play at first base. The umpires, however, had different thoughts on what happened. MacDonald recalls that, “Even in my questioning with the first base umpire, he kind of shut down my argument pretty quickly.”

That hit, which should have been called a home run, would have tied the game. Instead, the Bold brought in only one run, and Ilao was halted at third. That would be the end of the Bold’s comeback, with a final score of 6-5. Hill acknowledged that the missed call isn’t entirely the reason the team lost but that it was “a really hard way to lose.”

“It was just one step forward, two steps back”

Regardless of the Bold being eliminated from the OUA qualifier finals, there was still one more game to be played the following morning against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Offence on both sides was strong, yet, the Bold could not keep up with the Varsity Blues. Each time the Bold came close to tying the game, their efforts would be cut short, with the tying run stranded on second or third. The Varsity Blues also kept adding to their run total, forcing the Bold to keep working from behind. Eventually, the game ended with a final score of 11-9 for the Varsity Blues, leaving the Bold unsatisfied with their season. Even at the start of the regular season, Hill had hopes the team would perform better.

“I thought we had the pieces to [win]…and it was frustrating that we didn’t get the job done,” said Hill.

Both Hill and MacDonald iterated sentiments of disappointment for the results on the field, which has been the theme of the past three seasons. Moments of this season showcased who the Bold can be when they play to their full potential. But their game isn’t always there—their offence can be potent or go quiet, their pitching can keep them in games or take them out and at times, errors can be a problem. Much like the playoffs, the Bold had opportunities to either close out games or come from behind to secure a win.

“I was not really happy with the way our performance was throughout,” said MacDonald. “There were bright spots where we played extremely well…and then it was just one step forward, two steps back some days.”

Moving onto next season, seven players will be graduating from this season’s roster, including Hill, catcher/outfielder Ben Barzo, catcher Alex Guest, pitcher Callum Wilson, pitcher Mikael Aqui, infielder/catcher Ryan Ricci and infielder/outfielder Armaan Memari. For players next year, Hill has some advice.

“I think you got to have a belief that you can win every day and that it takes everybody…if you can get a team to buy into that, you win baseball games,” said Hill.