The Holland Hurricanes men’s baseball team had a successful tournament at the 2019 Canadian National Baseball Championship (CNBC) last week in Toronto, ON.  The ‘Canes claimed national bronze after an exciting come-from-behind victory over the hosts from Humber College.

The Hurricanes joined the Hawks, Thomson Rivers University (TRU) Wolfpack (Kamloops, BC), John Abbott College Islanders (Ste. Anne de Bellevue, QC), College

Lionel-Groulx (Ste-Thérèse, QC) and the Durham College Lords (Oshawa, ON) at the championship.

After round-robin victories on Thursday over the Durham Lords (10-3) and Lionel-Groulx Nordiques (5-4), the ‘Canes entered the semi-finals versus TRU Wolfpack on Friday evening.

The Hurricanes fell behind 3-0 early as they entered the bottom of the second inning with bats in-hand.  After scoring a run with a bases loaded walk, Ryan Abraham singled to left field to plate multiple runs for the Hurricanes; they’d exit the inning with a 4-3 lead in the game.

With both teams locked in defensively for the next four innings, the Wolfpack broke things open in the top of the seventh when they plated three runs, taking a 6-4 lead. The Hurricanes were unable to answer in their half of the winning as TRU advanced to the national championship game versus the Durham Lords with the victory.

On Saturday, with a national bronze medal on the line, the Hurricanes faced the host, Humber College Hawks.

After allowing two runs in the opening inning, the ‘Canes entered the third inning trailing 2-1. 

Things got worse for the Hurricanes.

Four more runs scored in the third, plus another in the fifth put the Hawks up 7-1 with the Hurricanes at-bat in the fifth inning.  A single run was all the Hurricanes could muster in the fifth as they entered the game’s final inning trailing 7-2.

Cue the comeback.

A Julian MacDonald single scored Brett Brittany.  A Riley Gallant single scored Avard Hart.  7-4, Humber.

A Curtis McGregor single scored Gallant and MacDonald.  7-6, Humber.

A Tyson McInnis single scored Robison; tie game.

The comeback would be completed when Brett Brittany singled to score Eric Anderson, giving the Hurricanes the improbable 8-7 walk-off victory, and national bronze medal.

The Durham Lords would eventually take the gold medal after a 2-1, extra-innings win over the TRU Wolfpack in the championship game.

Following the championship, two Hurricanes players were named to the tournament all-star team.

Tyson McInnis (Peakes, PEI) was named the all-star third baseman, while Chase Brown (Tennecape, NS) was named an all-star in the right-field position.

This season, the Hurricanes went 14-2 during regular season play as part of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball Association (ACBA) before stumbling at the Atlantic Championships, going 1-2. 

This is the second-best nationals finish for the baseball Hurricanes; they took home a national silver in 2015 after falling to the McGill University Redmen in the finals hosted by the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in Fredericton, NB.

For more information on the 2019 Canadian National Baseball Championship, visit www.humberhawks.ca.

For more information on the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball Association, visit www.atlanticbaseball.ca.

Connect with the baseball Hurricanes by visiting www.twitter.com/canesmbaseball and www.instagram.com/canesmbaseball.

For more information on the Holland Hurricanes, visit www.hollandhurricanes.com, www.facebook.com/hollandhurricanes, www.twitter.com/hc_hurricanes and www.instagram.com/hollandhurricanes.

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