TORONTO – Anything can happen in a one-and-done baseball game. And unfortunately for the Guelph Gryphons, their potentially-explosive offence dried up at the wrong time. Guelph was eliminated from the OUA Baseball Championships after losing 6-0 to the Toronto Varsity Blues in the quarter-final Friday afternoon at the Pan Am Ballparks.

The Gryphons, the fifth seed in the 10-team tournament hosted by Ryerson, hit the ball hard but made mistakes on the basepaths, which killed chances to put up crucial runs in the do-or-die format. Guelph had three baserunners picked off in the first five innings and with second-year Varsity Blues' ace Graham Tebbit on the hill, who was spotted an early 3-0 lead after one inning, it was tough to for the Gryphons to get any momentum.

"We got behind the eight ball early and made too many mistakes," said Guelph coach Matt Griffin. "He (Tebbit) knows how to pitch. You have to be near perfect.

"A single-knockout game doesn't give you any margin for error."
 

Tebbit held the Gryphons in check, allowing just five hits through eight innings, while striking out eight and walking one batter.                                                                                                    
Left-hander Mitchell Over got the surprise start for Guelph with the Varsity Blues putting up a lefty-heavy lineup. Toronto struck early and scored its first run with two outs in the opening inning. But Guelph had trouble escaping with just the one run against. The Gryphons were charged with an error in the outfield, allowing two more runs to cross for a big 3-0 Varsity Blues' lead after the first frame.

Guelph strung together a couple hits in the second but a Toronto double-play snuffed out the threat.

"We bounced back and had opportunity but that double play hurt us," said Griffin.

Over, who was a victim of a couple unearned runs, was sharp in the third when he struck out three straight Toronto batters with none out and men on second and third.

But in the bottom of the fifth, the Varsity Blues got a two-out double from infielder Gabriel Nakonechny that scored a run, followed by another RBI from catcher Michael Deluca that made it 5-0. Mateos Kekatos then homered in the seventh to extend the lead to 6-0, leaving the Gryphons desperate to produce a late rally.

Griffin was admittedly emotional about Guelph's elimination, particularly because of the seniors on the team whose careers abruptly came to a close. Kyle Kinsey, Mitchell Ewing, Joseph Ciccia, Denver Carter, Sean McLean, Nathan Kramer, Samuel Salemi and Nicholas Interisano all played in their final game as Gryphons.

"It was a tough way to end the season," said Griffin. "We have to say goodbye to kids who made a big contribution to this program.

"There were a lot of hugs and thank yous."