KITCHENER, Ont. - Friday morning at Bechtel Park, the Waterloo Warriors will face an all-too familiar foe.
The black and gold have taken on the Varsity Blues in each of the past three seasons. The last two years, it's been Toronto edging out the Warriors in the OUA championship game, including a 6-5 extra-innings heartbreaker in 2023.
Those two teams meet again in the first semifinal of the 2025 OUA Baseball Championship, hosted by Waterloo.
"We're hoping to get Toronto back for the last three years. It's nice to get them first," said fourth-year pitcher Max Todd (Paris Ontario/). "I'm on the mound for the first game, so hopefully I can shut them down over nine innings."
Todd has shown an ability to do just that against top teams. In Windsor last weekend, he pitched a complete game in an 11-2 takedown of Laurier at the OUA Far West Regional Qualifier.
Waterloo followed that up with 14-4 and 11-1 wins over Western and Windsor, respectively, to go 3-0 in the round robin, outscoring their opponents by a total of 36-7.
Incredibly, Todd stepped back on the mound the next day to pitch a two-inning save in the Regional Final against Western, another dominant 17-6 win for the black and gold.
"I'm feeling good," he said heading into a weekend where the Warriors will need him to step up yet again.
The Varsity Blues are two-time defending champions and return a powerhouse lineup led by fourth-years Kirk Gibson and Sam Aslanowiscz. They enter the tournament on a nine-game winning streak and, like Waterloo, steamrolled their reginal qualifier, putting up 45 runs in four games against their Central Division opponents.
Should the Warriors prevail and finally slay the blue-and-white-clad dragon in the semifinal, they'll have an equally daunting opponent waiting for them in the championship game.
The defending national champion Carleton Ravens take on the Brock Badgers in the second semifinal at 3:00 on Friday.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for Ravens fifth-year shortstop Eric Blamauer. The Elora, Ont. native finished the regular season with a .451 batting average and 1.101 OPS.
The Badgers lost twice to the Warriors in the regular season but are heating up at the right time and got a 10-strikeout complete game win from Ryan Facchini in the OUA West Regional Final against Guelph.
No matter the opponent, Todd and the Warriors are feeling confident.
"I'm looking forward to being on home turf when we hopefully clinch the gold for the first time in Warriors history. We have a bunch of new faces who have played big roles so far. Arthur Kowara (Etobicoke/) and Luca Valvo (Niagara Falls/) are two big names who are going to help our outcome."
Kowara was a force in the regional qualifier. The newly named captain hit 8-16 over the weekend, scoring two home runs, three doubles, nine RBIs, and six runs scored, while accumulating a 1.663 OPS. He and Brock's Facchini were each named OUA athletes of the week.
Friday's semifinals will be played at Bechtel Park, while Saturday's medal games will move to the Warriors usual home diamond at Jack Couch Park. The first pitch for the bronze medal game is set for 10:00 AM, and the gold medal game begins at 2:30.
The Warriors and Varsity Blues start things off at 10:00 AM Friday at Bechtel Park.
Admission at bechetal Park and Jack Couch Park is free. All games will be streamed live on OUA.tv - you must register with an account to watch, but no subscription is needed.
