Team Saskatchewan, featuring three players from Weyburn, and coached by Weyburn’s Bert Kauf, wrapped up the U21 National Baseball Championships in Ottawa-Gatineau Sunday. They would finish in fourth place in the tournament, which featured teams from across Canada.

Finishing the round-robin with a record of 2-2, Saskatchewan found themselves in the quarterfinals Saturday evening against the squad from New Brunswick, who had an identical record.

New Brunswick jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning, while Saskatchewan added a single run in the fourth. Down 2-1, Team Sask went to bat in the seventh and final inning with the season on the line.

Parker Toppings drew a walk,m then Takeshi Yamazaki hit a single. An intentional walk to Adam Gerwing would then load the bases. Two batters later, Jordan Logan was hit by a pitch, bringing in the game-tying run. The next batter, Dalton Wells, hit a single which cashed in Yamazaki, giving Saskatchewan the walk-off win.

Weyburn’s Brandon Hutt was on the mound for the final three innings, and warned the win, allowing one hit, and striking out one.

The win advanced Saskatchewan to the semi-finals Sunday, where they would face one of the two representatives from Ontario, Wednesday.

Windsor came out swinging, and scored in the second to go up 1-0, then added two runs in the fourth, and single sin the fifth and the sixth. Behind the eight-ball, Saskatchewan got on the board in the sixth inning. Weyburn’s Carver Krafchuk reached base the hard way, as he was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. He advanced to second and then third before a single from Toppings cashed him in. A sacrifice fly by Yamazaki would add one more run for Saskatchewan, closing the gap to three runs.

In the seventh, though, Team Sask was unable to find the late-game heroics they had in the quarterfinals to pick up the win. As a result, Saskatchewan was relegated to the bronze medal game, where they would have a rematch with St. Thomas, the other representative from Ontario.

In the round robin, Saskatchewan manhandled St. Thomas, winning the game 14-2. The team from southwest Ontario would be looking for payback in the rematch with a bronze medal on the line.

St. Thomas got on the board first, as they scored two runs on a double in the first inning. Saskatchewan would tie the game up in the fifth inning.

Jayden McKim started the inning with a double, then, the bases would get loaded after a single from Logan, and Krafchuk was, once again, hit by a pitch. An error by the first baseman allowed McKim to cross the plate and moved Logan and Krafchuk to scoring position. The next batter, Cale Kindrachuk, forced the first baseman to commit another error, and Logan crosses the plated, and the bases remained loaded. The next batter, Toppings, would hit into a double play, ending the inning, with the score tied at 2.

The game couldn’t be resolved in seven innings, forcing an extra frame. In the top of the inning, with two outs, St. Thomas scored the go-ahead run. Faced with another clutch situation in the bottom of the inning, this time, Saskatchewan couldn’t get the run needed to force a ninth inning, and the game ended in a 3-2 final, with Saskatchewan finishing the tournament in 4th place.