Marauders baseball falls short to Gaels

John Bauer

As the days get shorter and calender turns to the -bers, most folks begin to accept that summer is at its end.

To a select few however, shorter days mean Tuesday nights under the lights at Bernie Arbour stadium, the smells of freshly cut grass, rosin, and pine tar, and more frequent trips to the corner store for sunflower seeds.

Yes, to McMaster’s boys of summer, summer has just begun.

Coming off a fairly disappointing season last year, McMaster’s baseball team enters the season with key returnees Jake Chiaravalle and Travis Flint in the outfield and Brandon DaSilva and Travis Gibson in the infield.

Gone are OUA All-Star Paul Saville and workhorse pitchers Tomas Rincon and Carlos Cabrero. With overwhelming turnover on the mound, the Marauders will look to newcomers like outfielder Mike Campagnolo to hit the ground running offensively while the bullpen works out early season kinks.

Unfortunately, both the offense and defense were lacking Wednesday in Kingston, Ont. as the Marauders opened their season against the Queen’s Gaels.

Starting pitcher Kyle Angelow was done in by five errors leading to two unearned runs in a 6-0 loss.

First baseman Rob Birtles put in an impressive effort on both sides of the ball, going 2-4 with a double, a stolen base, and seven put outs.

Campagnolo was the best of the rest, also going 2-4 and recording four put outs.

While the Gaels were limited to only one extra base hit, they worked their way around the bases due to Maroon errors and timely singles.

Pitcher Jeremy McDonald kept Mac batters guessing all day, recording six strikeouts over seven innings, sharing the shutout with Tyler Whealy.

Mac baseball fans can get their fix at Bernie Arbour Stadium until mid-October, with doubleheaders most Saturdays and Sundays and the odd weekday game thrown in.

Their next home game is scheduled for Sept. 14 at 1:00 p.m. sharp, when they play a two game set against Waterloo Warriors.

Photo c/o McMaster Athletics.