TORONTO, Ont. - The Durham College baseball team claimed the National College Baseball Championship gold medal on Saturday evening in Toronto, defeating the Thompson River Wolfpack in an exciting extra-inning contest, 2-1.
The win marks the second national championship in program history, previously claiming the CIBA national title in 2011.
A near storybook ending to the career of head coach Sam Dempster, who announced his retirement for the conclusion of the 2019 season earlier this fall, the bench boss has led the program since its inaugural season in 1992. Earlier this fall Dempster recorded his 400th career win, he led the Lords to a winning conference record for the 24th time over 28 seasons, and to an OCAA silver medal for the third time in seven years; in addition to the national gold.
First-year power-hitter and 2019 OCAA batting champion
Fernando Suarez Muniz (Whitby, Ont.) was exceptional in the gold medal match, driving in the Lords first run of the championship final with an RBI double off the left field fence, before crossing the plate himself in the eighth inning for the game-winning run.
Award winners on the evening saw Suarez and
Riley Gray (Caledonia, Ont.) named CIBA championship all-stars. Gray went on to also receive Top Hitter and MVP honours for the tournament. Meanwhile, championship winning pitcher
Jake Legros (Whitby, Ont.) was named Top Pitcher, while Lords first baseman
Palmer Cruickshank (Oshawa, Ont.) was awarded with the Golden Glove.
A stellar season for the Lords, after a 2-6 start they would rebound to record 11 straight wins and eventually claim the provincial silver as host of the 2019 OCAA baseball championship last weekend, qualifying them for the National College Baseball Championship. Durham lost their first game of the national tournament, but would go on to pick up wins over the Lionel-Groulx Nordiques, John Abbott Islanders, and 2019 OCAA champion Humber Hawks, en route to the championship win over the Thompson River Wolfpack.
• Sending a deep fly ball off the fence in left field, Suarez recorded an RBI to tie the game up in the fifth inning before singling in the eighth inning to get on base and eventually score the game-winning run courtesy a Thompson River error.
• The only other Lords batter to record multiple hits in the victory, centre fielder Gray finished the gold medal game 3-for-4 in the batter's box.
• A fourth-year pitcher and third baseman, Legros earned the victory for the Lords delivering a complete game effort, allowing one earned run on five hits over eight innings, while striking out six Wolfpack batters, including the gold medal clinching out.
Overall Record: 22-10 (W-L)
Conference Record: 12-6
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