London, ON – The Waterloo Warriors finished a dominant performance in the OUA Far West Regional Final, scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 6
th inning to take a 12-2 win.
Waterloo came out of the gate with solid offensive pressure in the bottom of the 1
st inning, putting up 4 runs to start the game.
After a lead-off walk,
Cody Hagerman (Whitby/) would hit a single to left field which drove in a run to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
Two batters later, with runners on first and second,
Sam Shephard (Belle River/) hit a line drive to right field, scoring Hagerman and pushing the lead to 2-0 Waterloo.
The Warriors would round out their scoring in the inning on a ground ball, which
Sean Skorupski (Mississauga/) would reach on an error, and a pair of runs would come into score, giving Waterloo the 4-0 lead after the opening inning.
Windsor responded in the top of the 2
nd with a pair of runs on a
Stephen Whalen (Heidelberg/) line drive to right-center field which cashed in Kyle Jones & Tennyson Seguin and cut the Waterloo lead to 4-2.
Waterloo would add to their lead in the bottom of the 3
rd,
Adam Rusch (Vancouver/) bunted to the pitcher who made the play to home, but Shephard would come in to score and give the Warriors a 5-2 lead. Two batters late Waterloo would strike again, this time on a
Sam Grant (Toronto/) line drive that scored
Sean Skorupski (Mississauga/) and pushed the Warriors lead to 6-2.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7
th, Waterloos 24 would line a ball to the Lancers third baseman who made a heads-up dive to tag the base and double up the Warriors and end the inning, keeping the score at 6-2 for Waterloo.
Waterloo added 6 more runs in the bottom of the 8
th, to put the 10-run mercy rule into effect and finish the game.
Aidan Armitage (Waterloo/) brought the intensity on the mound in the start for Warriors, pitching 5.2 innings, striking out four, while allowing 0 earned runs. He was followed by
Max Todd (Paris, Ontario/) who pitched 2.1 innings, striking out 4 while allowing just one hit.
Zach Verzosa took the loss for Windsor, pitching 5.2 innings, striking out four while allowing one earned run.
Waterloo moves on to play in the OUA Baseball Championship that will be played at the Ajax Sportsplex starting Friday, October 11.
