Ottawa, ON – After the Ottawa Lynx left after 14 seasons in 2007, Ottawa has seen two failed attempts at bringing baseball back to Ottawa, Ottawa Rapidz (2008) Ottawa Fat Cats (2010-2012). But professional baseball is set to return to Ottawa, the Ottawa Champions of the Can-Am League, were announced in June of 2014 and set to play their home opener on 22 May.
The Ottawa Champions played their first exhibition season, just 2 games, this past weekend both verse the Trois-Rivières Aigles who finished last in Can-Am League action last season.
The exhibition season opener saw the Champions drop to the Aigles, 2-1, with the Champions highlight coming in the 4th inning as Willie Carmona hit a solo shot home run. The score would remain 1-0 Champions until the 7th inning when Ottawa reliever Drew Cisco ran in trouble, loading the bases with no one out but managed to escape with only 1 run scored. But in the 8th inning, Cisco would be tagged for the loss, after a hard double down the right field line by Aigles’ centre fielder Steve Brown, which plated the eventual winning run in Jose Cuevas.
The Champions were hoping for better results in front of a home crowd for the final game of exhibition action. Trois-Rivières would score first in the top of the 1st inning but Ottawa recovered in its half of the inning scoring 3 runs for a 3-1 lead after 1 inning of play. The Champions would hold the lead the entire game, including 3 runs scored in the final inning on their way to 9-4 win. Ottawa saw another strong game from Willie Carmona who led the offence, going three-for-four on the day while scoring two runs. The Champions also got strong performances from 1B Jon Talley (2-for-4, 3 RBI), LF Mike Schwartz (3-for-5, 2 R), and Roberto Ramirez (3-for-4, 2 R, RBI). Ottawa starter Jack Wagoner recorded two strikeouts in two innings pitched, and only allowed one earned run while walking two. Joe Riley, Dan Meyer, Josh Blanco, Nick Purdy, and Alan DeRatt also took the mound for the Champions.
Ottawa Champions kick off their regular season with a home opener verse the Sussex County Miners Friday night, 22 May at 7:05pm. Buy your tickets today!
