The Guelph Gryphons baseball team has moved into second place in OUA standings, and is off to a strong start with the longest win streak to open a season in the history of the program.
On Sept. 26, the Gryphons defeated the York Lions in a double header at Guelph’s Hastings Stadium. The Gryphons were consistent and dominated the first game, taking an early 4-0 lead. Starting pitcher Stephen Fried threw six shutout innings, and the Gryphons kept the pressure on to take the first game of the day 10-0 in eight innings.
The Gryphons carried their momentum into the second game of the day, leading by two after the first inning thanks to Cooper Stocco and Jake Gerovac. York was able to rally and prevent another shutout for the Gryphons, but the team kept the pressure on and took the second game 8-2. Saturday’s games brought the Gryphons to 8-0 on the season and dropped York to 0-6.
Sunday brought a more formidable opponent in the Waterloo Warriors, 6-2 on their season coming into the double-header.
The first game of the day was scoreless through seven innings, but the Warriors took the lead in the eighth and pitcher Ryne Weppler found a groove, shutting out the Gryphons for the game. The Warriors took game one 2-0, breaking the Gryphons’ win streak.
The Gryphons came back with a vengeance in the second game, keeping the pressure on the Warriors and were rewarded for their efforts. Following the 13-3 victory, Gryphons pitcher Jeff Snelgrove improves to 2-0 on his season while the Gryphons move to 9-1 and Waterloo sits at 7-3.
The 2015 Gryphons are carrying forward a strong team from 2014, with only six first-year players on the roster. At the end of the 2014 season, four Gryphons players were named OUA All-Stars. Only one of these players, centre fielder Peter Ricciardi, joins the Gryphons again this year.
With the 2015-16 OUA Championships to be held at Western University on Oct. 16-18, the Gryphons’ second-place standing is a promising start to a short but intense season.
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The Ontarion publishes independent, student-produced news, opinion, and commentary for University of Guelph students so that they can make informed decisions in their lives. To do this, The Ontarion provides learning opportunities and training in journalism, media production, leadership, board governance, and other aspects of nonprofit news.
The Ontarion is the University of Guelph’s independent student newspaper. It began in 1951 as part of the Ontario Agricultural College and then began to represent the entire University of Guelph once it amalgamated in 1964. The Ontarion incorporated in May 1970 as The Ontarion, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation registered with the province of Ontario.