DARTMOUTH, N.B. — The Burnaby, B.C. Bulldogs captured the Canadian senior men’s baseball championship with a 1-0 victory over the host Dartmouth Moosehead Dry in the gold medal game Sunday.
The Bulldogs reached the final with a 6-2 win over the Fredericton, N.B. Royals while the Dry beat the Brandon Cloverleafs 12-0.
The Royals downed the Cloverleafs 2-1 to take bronze.
The Coverleafs eliminated the Red Deer Riggers from the playoffs with a 6-2 win in the quarter-finals Saturday.
“Our biggest difficulty is we struck out 11 times and when you strike out 11 times there’s not enough bats to do anything,” explained Riggers president/GM Dwayne Lalor.
Justin Funk started on the mound for the Cloverleafs and allowed two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings while fanning nine.
“The guys came back to the dugout saying they had trouble picking up the ball,” said Lalor. “He was one of those guys that in his delivery was able to hide the ball a little bit longer than most pitchers. We had trouble making it happen.”
The Riggers trailed 2-1 after five innings, but reliever Jeff Hall gave up four runs — one earned — in the sixth. Three of the runs came on a home run by Kevin McNeill, which came following an error on a double play ball, that loaded the bases. An errant pickoff gave the Cloverleafs a run. McNeill then cleared the bases.
Davin Gulbransen started on the mound or the Riggers and allowed one run on four hits over three innings.
Gulbransen had also started the Riggers’ final round-robin game Saturday morning — a 13-7 win over Fredericton.
He worked 3 2/3 innings, allowing six runs before Mac Girodat closed out the game, allowing one run on three hits over 3 1/3 innings.
Mike Ronnie and Jaret Chatwood each drove in a run against the Cloverleafs while Kerry Boon scored twice.
Ronnie and Jaret Chatwood had three hits each against the Royals while Delton Kruk, Boon and Aaron Graves had two apiece.
Curtis Bailey and Graves drove in three runs each and Jaret Chatwood scored three times.
The loss to Brandon was a disappointing finish to the nationals, but the Riggers can use the experience as they look toward next year. The Red Deer squad has already qualified for the 2011 championships by winning this year’s provincial title.
“Now the guys know what it’s like to think you have a shot and then go home with nothing,” said Lalor. “It’s not that much fun. As a team we have to play a little bit better all year at that higher level all the time. We’ll have a lot of the same bodies back so that should bode well for the future. But right now it’s not a good time.”
l In the senior women’s championship final, Quebec downed Team Alberta, which included Heidi Northcott of Rocky Mountain House, 4-0.