Cardinals 4-0 heading into Sunday

ST. THOMAS - They are undefeated and advancing to play on Sunday.

The St. Thomas Cardinals won twice on Saturday to improve to 4-0 at the Ontario Baseball Association (OBA) 18U C championship at Emslie Field.

"We felt we had a shot (to advance to Sunday)," Cardinals' manager Ryan Morrison said. "We won some big games and we're there with loads of pitching. We had a plan set up and we've followed it. I think we're in good shape."

St. Thomas, the lone undefeated team remaining at the double knockout tourney, faces Mitchell in a semifinal, 9 a.m. Sunday.

A Cardinals win means a St. Thomas - Listowel final at noon. A loss leads to a tie breaker between Mitchell and St. Thomas, with one team facing Listowel in a second semifinal and the other team, to the final at 3 p.m. All games at Emslie.

"When I talk about our pitching, two of our top guys are infielders, so we've been able to keep them in their best defensive spots and use other guys on the mound," said Morrison.

St. Thomas has been cruising along this tournament, but the Tecumseh Rangers made the host team somewhat sweat Saturday evening.

The Cardinals opened with five runs in the first inning and led 10-1, after five innings, before Tecumseh scored six runs in the sixth inning.

A pitching change with Linkin Kelllington relieving starter Nathan Watson, ended the Rangers' momentum, for a 11-7 win.

"We know Tecumseh never gives up. We had to keep battling and hang on at the end," said Morrison. "We knew they would get some hits. We had a big enough lead early."

That nine run lead gave Watson the opportunity to get out of the inning himself, even after Tecumseh scored five runs with no outs.

"If it was a closer game, maybe we would have made a switch earlier," Morrison said. "Things were under control and they got to him a little bit. We bring in the fresh arm, with a little more zip on the fastball."

Watson went five innings for the win, striking out five batters and walking one.

Kellington allowed no hits or walks over two innings for the save.

The Cardinals finished with 18 hits, including an Andrew Oates three run shot to right field, for a 9-1 lead in the fourth inning.

"He's hit seven or eight to the fence and I know his mom keeps (recording)," said Morrison. "He keeps hitting to the deepest part of the park and he finally turned on one and hit it out."

Aaron Dyke batted four-for-four, including one double and Wyatt Allerston went three-for-four.

Lead-off man Aiden Ward and Nathan Dunn, both had a pair of singles and one RBI, while Cameron Morrison, batting second, hit a single and a double and drove in two runs.

In game one of day three against the Mitchell Astros, St. Thomas alternated between scoring two and three runs over the first four innings, to lead 10-2. That was all the scoring for the game, for a 10-2 result.

Morrison had a single and double, drew a walk and drove in two runs.

Ward and Wyatt Atchison, both had a single and double and scored twice, while Oates had a pair of singles and one RBI.

Matthew East pitched a complete game five hitter, striking out seven batters.