Baseball team uses big fifth inning to beat U of O

Men’s baseball added another feather to the Carleton Ravens cap Sept. 12, as they thumped the University of Ottawa (U of O) Gee-Gees by a score of 16-6.

Ravens starting pitcher Brendan Saville picked up the win for Carleton, scattering six hits over six innings of work while struggling to find his command on a cold night, walking seven Gee-Gees batters. His U of O counterpart, Joel Sanscartier, was chased from the ballgame after four innings, giving up just two hits but allowing four runs on six walks.

“We started off a little slowly,” Ravens manager Andre Robidoux said. “But once we became patient at the plate and settled down the defense, the bats came alive.”

The evening started off bleakly for Carleton, with their crosstown rivals putting a 3-0 lead on the board in the top of the first via a Mikael Zanga RBI single and a bases-clearing single from Michael Llanes that scored two more runs.

U of O opened up a six-run lead in the top of the third when they capitalized on Saville’s control issues. After a pair of walks to begin the inning, Zanga hit an RBI single. The next at-bat, Gee-Gees third baseman Musashi Takara brought in a pair of runs with a deep fly to centre field. Robidoux said the cold weather was partially to blame for the pitchers’ control in the early parts of the game.

“Our pitching gave up a couple more walks than it should have–with this weather it’s what we expect in September,” he said.

By the bottom of the fifth inning, the Ravens were trailing 6-4. They caught a break, capitalizing on some weak Gee-Gees relief pitching and multiple errors to put them in the driver’s seat. They sent 15 batters to the plate in the inning while scoring 11 runs, all on just three hits. Gee-Gees relievers Jordano Gonzalez and Adam Stelmach allowed nine runs without recording a single out in relief.

Leading 15-6, the Ravens needed just a single run in their half of the sixth inning to put away the Gee-Gees via mercy rule, which they did quickly courtesy of a Jordan Bails walk-off RBI single.

“It’s great to get the win, but it’s always great to beat Ottawa U at any time in any sport,” first-year second baseman Hamzah Khan said.

Saville credited both the offence and defence for the win equally. “We had good defence today,” Saville said. “The boys really picked me up with the bats. Tonight was just a real team win.”

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