Warriors Baseball began their OUA season this past weekend, playing two very successful doubleheaders, one each on Saturday and Sunday. Having collected three wins, the Warriors' 3-1 record is tied for second best in the league, behind only the 4-0 Toronto Varsity Blues.
 
The weekend set was backed by masterful pitching performances by starters Evan Morrison (Sebringville/), Jake English, Carson Hepburn (Newmarket/), and Jake Roberts (Scarborough/) who combined for 19 strikeouts over 22.1 innings pitched. The Warriors' bats combined to score a total of 13 runs over the four games.
 
In Saturday's opener against the Windsor Lancers, the Warriors opened the scoring in the third inning after first-year catcher Max Greaves (Toronto/) walked and shortstop Varun Kuo (Mississauga/) cashed him with a groundout. Last year's two-way rookie sensation Evan Morrison (Sebringville/) kicked off his sophomore campaign on the mound by spinning a 5-inning, 5-hit, 6-strikeout gem before exiting and shifting to second base with the Warriors trailing 2-1. Relievers Dan Marquez and Max Todd (Paris/) each pitched two innings to keep Waterloo close. Ultimately, the Warrior bats fell silent and were unable to score again, giving the Lancers a 4-1 victory in game one.
 
Jake English, formerly of the Canadian Junior National team, got the start in game two. After allowing a run in the first, English quietly dominated on the hill working through six innings of one-run ball, forcing the Lancers' first-inning run to be their only. The Warriors would score a first-inning run of their own to match the Lancers when Varun Kuo (Mississauga/) and Evan Morrison (Sebringville/) led off the inning with back-to-back walks, setting the table for Stephen Whalen (Heidelberg/), who rocked a double to tie the game. The Warriors and Lancers would remain deadlocked until the bottom of the fourth when an Alessandro Strazzeri (North York/) single forced rookie Cody Hagerman (Whitby/) across the plate, who reached earlier on a walk. Jake Ray entered the game in the top of the seventh looking to shut the door in the final inning of the 7-inning second game. He did just that, striking out two Lancers in a perfect, 18-pitch top of the seventh to secure the Warriors' first league win of the season.
 
On Sunday, the Warriors traveled to Lions Park in Kitchener to host a pair against the Toronto Metropolitan Bold. Carson Hepburn (Newmarket/) got the ball in game one and put on a show. He lasted 7.1 innings striking out seven, allowing 3 runs, just one earned, even refusing to permit a walk - a performance that would net him Warrior Athlete of he Week. The Warriors wasted no time scoring, either. In the bottom of the first, Evan Morrison (Sebringville/), just the second batter the Warriors sent to the plate, tripled to the wall to score Varun Kuo (Mississauga/). Morrison would come around and make it 2-0 Warriors on a subsequent Liam Sutherland (Stoney Creek/) sacrifice fly. The Warriors doubled their lead in the second inning when Jorden Carthy (Elmira/) and Adam Leatherland (Simcoe/) scored by capitalizing on a series of defensive blunders by TMU. Hepburn yielded to Nick Levinski (Calgary/) after allowing two unearned runs in the top of the eighth as the Bold inched within one run before Levinski successfully neutralized the threat. The Warriors added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when catcher Grayson Rechsteiner (Toronto/) drove in Sean Skorupski (Mississauga) with a single. Levinski returned in the top of the ninth to close out the game and secure the 5-3 win.
 
Game two against TMU saw the Warriors and Bold match eachother for two run innings in the first. The Warriors strung together a Varun Kuo (Mississauga/) single, Stephen Whalen (Heidelberg/) double, and Cody Hagerman (Whitby/) triple to score their pair before sending starter Jake Roberts (Scarborough/) back to the mound for his second inning of work. After allowing two in the first, Roberts settled in, cruising for another three innings while striking out five before the Warriors called on first-year pitcher Myles Robinson (Hamilton/). Robinson threw three shutout innings while the Warrior bats scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on three hits and two walks, including a clutch, go-ahead RBI single from Luke Zettel (Walkerton/). Robinson's third and final inning of work locked up the Warriors' second win of the day, a doubleheader sweep of TMU and a .750 weekend.
 
After week one, Warriors pitching shone, allowing just 2 earned runs, 10 total, both best in the league through the first weekend. They'll look to continue to roll this week when they square off against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in a Tuesday Exhibition game at Jack Couch Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7 PM. We'll return to league action this weekend when we host York University for a Saturday doubleheader and travel to London to play a pair against Western on Sunday. Fans can follow all of our games live on Twitter with in-game updates, or watch our home games at Jack Couch Park live.