The only team to go undefeated in pool play at the U15 Baseball Canada championship ended the season with two playoff losses.
“We ran into a couple of hot teams on Sunday,” said Sean Erickson, head coach of the fourth-place St. Albert Cardinals at nationals in Summerside, P.E.I.
The Alberta reps were shutout 7-0 by B.C. in the bronze medal game after falling 12-2 to Quebec in the semifinals.
After the final out, Erickson put a positive spin on the first St. Albert Minor Baseball Association bantam AAA team to qualify for nationals since 2007.
“It’s about the process not the results. There are so many random things that go into the actual results so it’s just the fact of really trying to enjoy the process and the work and all the practices and hours we put in and the 50-odd games we’ve played this year because that’s what it’s really about,” Erickson said. “You can’t hang your head about such a little period of time when you’ve put in so much good effort and work this year. You really have to be proud of the work they’ve done and the way they represented Alberta.”
The Cardinals took flight as medal contenders with five returnees from last year’s Tier II provincial bantam AAA championship team and a strong core from the fourth-place peewee AAA team at the 2014 U13 nationals in London, Ont.
“Obviously they did a great job. They definitely exceeded our expectations in the way they worked and the mental focus they were able to put in for 14- and 15-year-old kids,” said Erickson, who was promoted to skipper after his work as the first lieutenant for Cam Houston on the midget AAA Cardinals after longtime bantam AAA coach Dave Maguire retired to the West Coast.
“As far as results-wise, we had set our goal really back last September and October with a couple of guys I had in the Prospects (Academy) program. We wanted to go to nationals and play for a medal and those guys had been to nationals two years ago and made it to the semifinals as well, so to say we exceeded expectations that way would be a bit of a lie because from the first time we got together we kind of set this as our goal to work towards,” Erickson added. “But how they exceeded my expectations was the way they got there, the resilience and just the determination and I guess the discipline is the biggest aspect they were able to show as 14- and 15-year-olds was a surprise to me. I’ve coached lots of teams of 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds that didn’t have near the discipline and work ethic that these kids were able to put together.”
The Cardinals ran into a buzz-saw of a pitcher with a bronze medal on the line and struck-out 13 times against Theo Millas while stringing together four hits – a pair by Evan Bourassa and singles from Mike Brisson and Ryan Marples.
Millas also didn’t walk a batter during his six-inning stint.
“The kid was the top pitcher in the tournament and possibly the best 14-year-old pitcher I’ve ever seen. He finished the tournament with 24 strikeouts and a zero ERA in 11 innings,” Erickson said. “I believe in the third, fourth and fifth we had multiple runners on base and we had a chance a couple of times where we were a hit away from making it a close ball game but every time we got to that situation he just ramped it up a little bit and put it by us. He was dynamic on the mound to say the least.”
B.C. grabbed control of the game in the top of the first with four runs on five hits.
“Brady Kobitowich was really able to settle in after that and he almost got through the whole game,” Erickson said of the Cardinals’ starter, who gave up seven runs on eight hits, walked four and struck-out two over 6-1/3 innings.
B.C. added one run in the third and two more in the seventh while banging out nine hits and left four men on base, compared to seven for the Cardinals.
B.C. was also charged with two errors and the Cardinals committed one.
“Once we had guys on base quite simply he just reared back and threw it by us. He had a wipeout slider and a fastball so every time we got guys on base he kept going back to the slider, fastball combination and tied us in knots,” Erickson said. “The thing about good pitchers is they have that extra level to kind of gear up to and he had that level. I expect to see him on the junior national team down the road.”
The Cardinals (5-2) played for bronze instead of gold after the 10-run loss to Quebec (4-2) and B.C. (5-2) was coming off a 5-1 setback to Ontario (5-1) in the semifinals. In the final, Ontario edged Quebec 2-1.
The Cardinals led-off the bottom of the first against Quebec with back-to-back homers by the team’s middle infielders, pickup Melvin Lorenzo of Okotoks Dawgs Black and Brisson, his second of the tournament.
Quebec replied with four runs on three hits and two Cardinals’ errors in the next at-bat and never looked back.
“I guess that was the turning point so to speak,” Erickson said.
Quebec pushed two runs across in the fifth on two hits and tacked up a six spot on four hits in the sixth.
The Cardinals were out-hit 12-7 overall as Liam Froment and Lorenzo split time on the mound. Froment surrendered four runs on six hits in four innings, while fanning six and walked one. Lorenzo was tagged for eight runs on six hits, with one strikeout and three walks.
“They brought in a really, really good pitcher out of the bullpen (Alexis Rioux tossed a one-hitter over 3-1/3 innings and struck-out eight and walked two) and he was able to kind of stymie our bats the rest of the game. We had a couple of chances to break it open but we just couldn’t come up with that hit when we needed it,” Erickson said.
Meanwhile, the tournament’s all-star team included Marples as the top first baseman.
“Ryan had a good tournament. Him and Liam Froment probably carried us throughout the round robin with their sticks,” said Erickson, noting Marples drove in four runs in the 15-4 win against Manitoba in six innings Friday while going 3-for-4 with a double and on the mound went the distance with a 10-hitter with three strikeouts and two walks.
Marples and Froment shared the team lead in RBIs at nationals and Brisson had five.
Froment also banged out five singles, one double, one triple and homered once and Marples chipped in with six hits.
Brisson scored a team-high 12 runs and stole eight bases. Lorenzo drew 10 walks, scored eight times and swiped six bags.
Visit www.baseball.ca for the team’s complete stats at nationals.
“It was just a great effort realistically by all 18 guys,” Erickson said.
