COTE ST. LUC, Que -- Christopher Stanford of Quebec City racked up five RBIs on three hits and scored twice as McGill cruised to an 11-0 victory over Concordia to capture the Canadian Collegiate Basball Association's Northern Division championship on a chilly Monday evenng at Gary Carter Field in Trudeau Park.

It capped a doubleheader sweep for the Redmen, who won the series opener 11-7 after overcoming a 6-0 first-inning deficit.

This marked the third straight pennant for McGill, which advances to the CCBA national championship, a six-team tournament hosted by the Universite de Montreal, Oct. 28-31.  The Redmen, who have won the CCBA national title in each of the past two seasons, will also be keeping an eye on the Chicago-Cleveland World Series, which gets underway on Tuesday. The Cubs assistant general manager is Shiraz Rehman, a 1999 McGill management grad who was a middle infielder with the Redmen during his undergrad days.

"Overall I'm very pleased with the effort from the guys tonight," said Jason Starr, head coach and field manager, who guided the first-place Redmen.to a 15-1 record in the regular season and four wins in five post-season contests. "They never gave up even after being down 6-0 early in the first game. They stayed with the game plan and executed it well. They worked very hard this season to get to this point and deserve this conference championship. We are going to enjoy it tonight and get right back to work this week for nationals. There are a lot of good teams there and we know we will have to play our best to have a chance at the end.

Ten runs in the first three innings allowed McGill to put the game away early. the Redmen scored four in the first, then added three in both the second and third innings and another in the fourth before the mercy rule kicked in and the game was called after Concordia batted in the top of the fifth.

McGill starter Bryan Corona of Greenfield Park, Que., collected the victory, allowing just one hit during his four innings of work. He threw 50 pitches, walked one and struck out four. Reliever Harrison Hart of Houston, Texas, closed out the game with a pefect inning, striking out the side.

Concordia starter Dan Connerty was charged with the loss. He allowed seven runs on seven hits in two innings, walked one, struck out one and hit one batter.

The CCBA schedule for Nationals is expected to be announced on Tuesday and the Redmen will be joined by the host Montreal Carabins, Concordia, Acadiia, Saint Mary's and UNB. McGill has won five national titles, including two in the CCBA (2015, 2014) and three in the old Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association (1994, 2006 and 2010).

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012