The St. Albert Red Cardinals fell short of bringing home a medal from the U18 Baseball Canada nationals in Fort McMurray.
Four consecutive wins in five games propelled the Cardinals into Sunday’s medal round but losses of 1-0 to the London (Ont. 1) Badgers and 11- 1 to Quebec resulted in a fourth-place finish for the Baseball Alberta midget AAA Tier I champions.
London (5-1) repeated at nationals by defeating the Etobicoke (Ont. 2) Rangers 5-4 in the final after downing the Cardinals by scoring the only run of the contest in the top of the sixth as the lead-off batter reached first base on an error and with one out scored from third on a sacrifice fly to left field.
Ryan Marples (77 pitches/51 strikes) went the distance for the Cardinals with a five-hitter. Marples struck-out three, walked one and stranded six runners.
Connor Ambrogio (100 pitches/66 strikes) also tossed a five-hitter for London over seven innings, with nine strikeouts and two walks while stranding seven Cardinals.
Brayden Cust, a pickup for the Cardinals from Sherwood Park, was 2-for-3 at the plate.
Colton Girard, Ryan Telenko and Evan Bourassa also collected hits.
Girard swiped two of the team’s four stolen bases.
In the bronze-medal game, Quebec (4-2) outhit the Cardinals 10-2 while tacking up four runs in the third and sixth innings.
Tyson Kowaluk (85 pitches/51 strikes) started for the Cardinals and was clipped for seven runs, five earned, over five innings. Kowaluk’s five-hitter included two strikeouts and two walks.
Logan Blumhagen pitched the sixth and one of the four Quebec runs was earned.
Emile Boles (92 pitches/66 strikes) fanned nine Cardinals and walked one over six innings while giving up hits to Cust and Mike Brisson.
The Cardinals committed three errors and Quebec was charged with four.
Saturday’s 12-2 dismantlement of the White Rock (B.C.) Tritons (3-3) in the crossover playoffs put the Cardinals in position to win a medal.
Four runs in the top of five made it 7-2 for the Cardinals, as Cust and Eric Rolheiser each drove in runs.
The Cardinals outhit the Tritons 12-5 as Jackson Moffat led the way with three hits in five at-bats and Brisson tripled twice.
Brisson also stole three bases as the Cardinals had eight in total.
Brad Goodwin, a pickup from the Parkland Twins, singled and doubled while driving in three runs.
Girard, Bourassa and Rolheiser had two RBIs apiece and Cust added two hits.
Goodwin (95 pitches/55 strikes) also tossed a five-hitter over six innings, with four strikeouts and five walks.
Brady Kobitowich closed out the win in the seventh.
Round robin
The Cardinals opened the tournament with Thursday’s 2-1 extra-inning loss to Etobicoke (4-2) and 3-2 win against the host Fort McMurray Oil Giants (3-2).Liam Froment (95 pitches/59 strikes) struck out eight and walked two in the complete-game decision against the Oil Giants.
The Cardinals also beat Nova Scotia 9-8 and Manitoba 10-2 in pool B action.
A four-run sixth inning put the Cardinals on top 8-6 against Nova Scotia (0-5). Kade Knight knocked in three runs and Kowaluk added two hits.
Brisson batted in four runs with two singles and a triple, and Moffat had three hits against Manitoba (3-2).
EXTRA INNINGS: Offensively, Girard and Goodwin led the Cardinals at nationals with eight hits apiece. Cust, Moffat and Brisson each had seven.
Goodwin, Girard and Rolheiser also drove in a team-high five runs apiece and Brisson scored eight times.
Visit www.baseball.ca/18U/ for the overall team stats.
The Cardinals were missing five players at nationals: overagers Tylor Jans and Danny Tkachyk, as well as second baseman Zach Froment, third baseman Davis Pratt and pitcher Joe Karall because of college commitments.
A revamped coaching staff helped fill the void in the absence of head coach Cam Houston.
The Cardinals finished the season with an overall 44-18 record as the first St. Albert Minor Baseball Association midget AAA team to represent Alberta at the U18 championship since the 2014 national silver medallists.
