Eagles advance to World Series after winning Canadian championship

We may not have world class transit, but we have a world class baseball team.

The East Nepean Eagles are in Easley, South Carolina this week for the Senior League World Series. They will be competing against the top teams of 15-16 year olds from around the globe.

The team has a strong South Carleton presence, with Richmond’s Reid Maika, Manotick brothers Cam and Thomas White, and Osgoode’s David Kelly among the 13 players on the roster of the Canadian champions.

Less than a week after winning the Canadian title, the Eagles headed to the 2023 Senior League World Series in Easley, South Carolina.

“I told the boys that winning is not the most important thing here,” said Eagles coach Matt Beelen. “The most important thing is for the boys to really enjoy the week and to have the time of their lives. How many people in Barrhaven, or anywhere, get to say that they played in a World Series? They are going to meet people and make friends from around the world. They will remember this week for the rest of their lives.”

The Eagles earned the trip to the World Series by winning the Canadian championship in late July at Hamilton Yards at the Nepean Sportsplex. After round robin play, the Eagles beat the Quebec provincial champion Diamond Baseball from the Montreal suburb of Boisbriand 3-2 in a game that featured three different weather delays.

To advance to the final, the Eagles beat Ontario champion Oakville in extra innings.

“We were District 2 champions, but we were not allowed to play in the provincials,” Beelen said. “As the host team for the nationals, we got an automatic berth.”

Beelen said there were advantages and disadvantages from going straight from the West Ottawa district level to the Canadian championships.

“It would have been a good tune up for us to play in the provincials,” he said. “But the advantage was that we could watch the other teams play and get to know them, while they did not get a chance to see us before the tournament.”

Beelen’s son Nolan pitched the Eagles to a 7-1 win over Oakville in the round robin game. The two teams faced each other in the semi-finals.

It was in the semi-final that the Eagles showed their grit and character. Oakville rallied for four runs in the top of the fourth inning off starter Charlie McDougall. The Eagles fought their way back into the game. Because there is a pitch count with each pitcher only allowed to throw so many pitches in a game, the Eagles used a strategy of taking Oakville’s starting pitcher deep into the count in every at bat.

The Eagles took advantage of walks and errors in the bottom of the fourth inning for a pair of runs. They tied the score with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as Oakville walked in both runs with the bases loaded.

“They committed a few errors and they were walking batters,” Beelen said.

Oakville pitchers walked seven batters in the game.

With the score tied 4-4 after seven innings, the game went into extra innings. McDougall had exhausted his pitch count, and Reid Maika same in to pitch the eighth. He gave up a two-out single but struck out the next batter to set the stage for the Eagles.

In the bottom of the inning, catcher Justin Morris singled and stole second base to get in scoring position. Maika singled to left centre field and walked it off with an RBI single.

The win set up the final between the Quebec champions and the Eagles. Diamond Baseball had gone undefeated in the round robin.

“They scored a lot of runs and the other teams were intimidated by them,” Beelen said. “We had already beaten them twice in tournaments this year.” eagles continues on page 19

In their round robin game, the Eagles and Diamond were tied 6-6 when rain suspended the game and forced them to continue it the next day. Diamond won 9-6.