Can-Am Ottawa Champions

Champions Sweep away Jackals in Wednesday Matinee

Published on August 19, 2015 under Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Ottawa Champions News Release


Ottawa, ON - The hit barrage continued for the Ottawa Champions, as the hosts collected 11 base hits in Wednesday's matinee, sweeping away the New Jersey Jackals with a 5-2 victory.

The win puts the Champions 3.5 games behind the Jackals for third place in the standings. It gives them an important win heading into an off day, according to Champions manager Hal Lanier.

"That's a big series against Winnipeg, and we're lucky to have a win before our off-day," Lanier said. "There's a long stretch coming up for us, and this off-day is going to help."

After going down 1-0 on a throwing error by third baseman Tyler Heil, the Champions battled back to tie the game in the bottom of the second. Daniel Bick continued to swing a hot bat, driving in Heil with a seeing-eye single.

The next inning featured more New Jersey offense, with AJ Kirby-Jones slapping a double down the left field side, scoring Vinny Zarrillo.

Ottawa went into the fifth inning down by that 2-1 score, but the Jackals lead was short-lived. After a leadoff single from Sebastien Boucher, Mike Schwartz roped a double into the left-centre gap to score Boucher all the way from first base.

That opened up the floodgates for Ottawa. The bottom of the order came through with three straight clutch base hits, giving the Champions a 5-2 lead.

That was the margin of victory as the bullpen held on to win the game for the fourth-place Champs.

Albert Cartwright led the offense for the Champions, going three-for-four out of the leadoff spot, but Corey Caswell received the CKDJ 107.9 Player of the Game award for his clutch base hit that scored Matt Tenaglia from third. The slap to right kept the crucial fifth inning alive for the Champions.

"He's eager to get into games," Lanier said of his catcher, who's in his second season of professional baseball. "He does everything he can when he's out there and came up with a clutch base hit today."

Lanier was thrilled with his team's effort, highlighting the all-around performance of both his pitching and offense.

"Wilmer threw another solid start for us, he really settled down after the error in the first and only allowed one other run," Lanier said of the former Texas Ranger. "He had his good stuff."

"We swung the bats well, everyone contributed," Lanier continued. "We got some base hits from people down in the batting order. It was a great series."

Ottawa returns to RCGT Park on Friday night, as they host their Canadian counterparts, the Winnipeg Goldeyes. The American Association team will be the opponents for the third interleague series in Ottawa this year.

Opening pitch on Friday is at 7:05 p.m.

Check out the Ottawa Champions Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Canadian American League Stories from August 19, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central