The York Diamonds attended the provincial championships for the first time in their long and storied existence. Port Hope was the host for the "C" division and the Diamonds were happy to attend.

GAME 1

Friday afternoon saw York travel to Harvey Jackson Field in Kendal to take on the Midland Mariners from the North Dufferin League. Midland jumped out to an early 6-1 lead before the Diamonds battled back to make it 6-4 in the top of the 4th. However the Mariners scored the next 4 to take a commanding 10-4 lead into the 7th. The York bats awoke for 4 runs in the final frame to make it interesting but the Mariners held on for the win. Andrew Seguin, Blake Cross, and Oz Alvarez each had 2 hits. For Alvarez it was only the start of what would turn out to be an insanely good hitting performance over the course of the weekend.

Saturday ended up being a marathon with the Diamonds playing three games.

GAME 2

At 8:00 am, it was back to Kendal to face a familiar foe, the Martingrove Sox. For the third straight time against the Sox, the Diamonds pulled out a close late inning win. Martingrove starter Eddy Lora was excellent and threw a complete game. York led 3-0 until the 4th, when the Sox tallied 3 to tie it and then they went ahead in the next inning on a Zubin Rao RBI single. It stayed that way until the top of  the 7th. Andrew Seguin walked, Andrew Greig sacrificed him to second, and Kevin Horton doubled to set the stage for Oz Alvarez. Oz blasted one over the left field wall to give York the lead 6-4. Starter Kevin Horton had pitched a great game but York elected to go to rookie Jacob Gouveia to try to close it out. After getting the first two hitters, the Sox loaded the bases. Gouveia threw a wild pitch and the runner broke for him. Catcher Andrew Greig retrieved the ball and fired to Gouveia covering the plate...the runner was out and the ball game was over and the Diamonds had their first-ever OBA win.

GAME 3

The team then drove to Donegan Park in Cobourg for a 2:00 pm start vs another familiar opponent, the Clarington Cubs. Gouveia got the start on the mound against TJ McKinlay of the Cubs. Clarington scored first on a Tristan Willcocks RBI single. A scary collision between Kevin Horton and Andrew Seguin also took place in the first inning, but fortunately both players were able to continue. York took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 2nd on RBI singles from Eric Foley and Kieran Teramoto. It stayed that way until the 7th with McKinlay and Gouveia throwing up zero after zero. York turned a sesason high three double plays, anchored by new starting shortstop Mitch Busch as well as second baseman Kieran Teramoto.  The Diamonds finally pulled away with 4 runs in the top of the 7th, with the big blows being an Oz Alvarez RBI double, an Alex Beauvais 2-run double, and an Eric Foley single. Gouveia closed the show in the 7th with Hall of Fame shortstop Mitch Busch channelling his "inner Varun" and ranging "far" to his left to catch a line drive and then stepping on second to end the game. 

GAME 4

This meant that a return trip to Kendal was in order for a 6:00 against the Tillsonburg Red Sox. The Diamonds jumped out to a 9-1 lead before the long day finally caught up with them as the Red Sox scored 16 straight runs to advance to Sunday via a 17-9 victory. Seguin, Horton, and Alvarez all had 2 hits. Eric Foley started well on the mound before running out of steam in the 4th. Brent Fransman faced 4 batters and retired them all.

Highlights were aplenty for the weekend namely:

Oz Alvarez going 11-16 with 9 RBI - perhaps due to a restful sleep at the Budget Inn
Andrew Greig catching all 27 innings, including 21 on Saturday after catching 1 inning the whole season
Jacob Gouveia getting a win and a save in the same day
Kevin Horton's strong 6 inning pitching performance and going 8-14 at the plate
Mitch Busch's shortstop experience and his general ignoring of Varun
Eduardo Fajardo gutting out a very painful injury and hitting a double
Kieran Teramoto smoking the ball all over the place and playing like a veteran at second base
Andrew Seguin going 5-14
Fil Vazzano legging out an infield hit
Jesse Dinsmore's world-class pinch running and restaurant selecting skills - and gutting out 5 innings to save bullpen arms
Blake Cross going 4-6 with 2 walks and striking out the side in his one inning of pitching
Alex Beauvais going 3-9 with 4 RBI
Eric Foley going 3-9 with 3 RBI
Brent Fransman with the knuckleball dancing and a couple of hard hit balls
The coaching debut of Varun Krishnammagaru
The stellar bullpen catching of Ryan Freeman

The York Diamonds have finalized an affiliation with the York Baseball Association. This will allow the team to enter the OBA Provincial Championships and also provide a potential home for graduating York Midget players.    

York Baseball has been offering house league t-ball to 18U baseball in Toronto's former City of York since 1961. They are the home of the select York RiverDogs and the rep York Jays.

Current Diamonds players that played for the York Pioneers in their youth baseball days include:

Eric Foley
Rich Freeman
Paul Freeman
Jacob Gouveia
Andrew Greig
Sydney Saunders
Kieran Teramoto
Fil Vazzano

The Diamonds are looking forward to this new partnership.