COTE ST. LUC, QUE – Four pitchers combined on a no-hitter as McGill blanked Concordia 4-0 in the second game of a playoff doubleheader to sweep a Quebec university baseball semifinal series 2-0 at Gary Carter Field, Saturday.
 
McGill, which won the opener 11-1 on a one-hitter, captured all six meetings with Concordia this season and extended a playoff win streak to eight consecutive wins over the Stingers since losing the last two games of the 2011 season.
 
It was the fourth no-hitter in McGill baseball history, and the third in post-season play. Despite not allowing a hit, it was a messy affair as McGill pitchers walked 12 batters. Redbirds starter Marcus Dela Cruz threw 80 pitches over four innings and collected the victory, improving to 2-1 on the season overall. He struck out seven and scattered six walks. Reliever Caden Welch took the mound in the fifth and issued four free passes with a pair of strikeouts in 1.1 innings. He was replaced by Donovan Worrall, who pitched two-thirds of an inning and gave up one base on balls. Justin Zabudsky tossed the final inning and walked one batter,  collecting his second save of the season.
 
The Redbirds, who only had five hits on a cool autumn day, scored once in the second inning, added two more in the third and one in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Shortstop Brad Marelich of Pasadena, Calif., and catcher Chris Bodine of Pound Ridge, N.Y., paced the McGill offence  with identical 2-for-3 performances at the plate. Both scored one run and Bodine had an RBI. The other Redbirds hit was from first-baseman Aidan Grskovic of Katonah, N.Y., who went 1-for-4 and scored a run.
 
Concordia starter Nathan Lavoie was saddled with the loss. In two innings of work, he allowed three runs on four hits and three walks.

Second-seeded McGill is 14-9 overall and advances to the Quebec League Championship Series for the second straight year. The best-of-three affair is slated against top-seeded UQTR, which sits at 13-1 overall after sweeping a semifinal doubleheader over the Montreal Carabins, 12-2 and 14-0. 

The schedule is yet to be confirmed but the final series is expected to open with a doubleheader on Saturday (Oct. 21) at Stade Quillorama in Trois-Rivières, followed by a rubber match, if needed, back in Montreal. The current four-team Quebec league is in the midst of a pilot project season under the auspices of the RSEQ conference. The league will expand by one next year with the addition of Laval, when it is expected to be officially sanctioned by the RSEQ.
 
McGill's previous no-hitter occurred on Oct. 13, 2018, when Rocky Hroch registered an 11-0 playoff win over Carleton, which was shortened to five innings because of the mercy rule. It was the second no-hitter for Hroch, who previously accomplished the feat in a 13-1 victory over the Universite de Montreal, also a five-inning affair on Sept. 23, 2016.

McGill's first-ever no-hitter took place on Oct. 23, 2006 when sophomore Michael Tomasetta pitched a rain-shortened six-inning gem as McGill hammered Dalhousie 8-0 to capture the Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association championship in Nepean, Ont.
 
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SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca