STONEWALL — Rylan Penner was a late addition but a key ingredient for Canada’s new junior baseball champions.
The 20-year-old pitcher from Blumenort had a sensational night on the hill Sunday to spark Team Manitoba to a comfortable 5-1 victory over Quebec in the gold-medal finale of the U22 national championship at Fines Field.
Manitoba’s roster comprised the Elmwood Giants team that won the 2022 Manitoba Junior Baseball League title bolstered by six all-stars from other MJBL teams.
Team Manitoba’s Justin Scott, Riley Craw and Easton Grieve (from left) celebrate Dawson Tanner’s two-run single in the fifth inning of Sunday’s gold-medal final.
It’s the province’s first Canadian junior baseball title since 2010.
Penner proved to be a great pickup from the Carillon Sultans.
“No words can explain this. It’s a great feeling,” said the right-hander. “The arm was feeling good from the start. The first inning, I got into a little bit of trouble but found my way out of it, and then just put it on cruise after that. I was feeling good.”
Manitoba went a perfect 6-0 during the four-day, eight-team tournament. Not every triumph came easy, as the squad registered a one-run win over Ontario in pool play and narrowly beat Nova Scotia 3-1 in a Sunday morning semifinal.
A host squad from the Interlake area was also in the mix but lost a quarter-final contest to Ontario on Saturday night.
In the final inning, Penner continued his dominance, striking out the first two batters before fielding a weak ground ball and firing it first base to seal the deal in front of a raucous, pro-Manitoba crowd.
Penner struck out six hitters and yielded just five hits, while demonstrating exceptional control with no walks allowed.
The lone blemish was a Raphael Picard solo home run in the sixth for Quebec. Unfazed, Penner followed that up with three big outs in the seventh to close it out.
“It was very surreal… it was an amazing moment to go back out for the seventh and get the win and pitch the whole game,” he said.
Manitoba manager Ed Kulyk, who guided Elmwood to five consecutive MJBL crowns before the Giants bowed to the St. Boniface Legionaires in the 2023 final last month, was elated for his group of ball players.
“It’s pretty cool, I’m kind of in a fog. It’s tough to remember what just happened, but it’s pretty cool,” said Kulyk. “For these kids, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance and it may never happen again, so I’m just going to watch them enjoy it.”
Cody Gunderson winds up to gun out a baserunner.
Kulyk heaped a ton of praise on his starting pitcher, who had played the morning semifinal as a position player.
“We weren’t sure what was going to happen. We played early this morning and I asked him, “Just empty the tank. Give us three or four innings…’” he said. “Away he went and he was dominant.”
Manitoba infielder Dawson Tanner from Waywayseecappo was the offensive star for the winners. With his side leading 1-0 in the fifth inning, Tanner drilled the first offering from relief pitcher Jerome Carvalho to left field for a base hit to score two.
“I saw the new pitcher, he was kind of all over the place (during warmup) and I knew he would want to get one strike on me right away. So, I just jumped on the first pitch and it happened to drop in play,” said Tanner.
He added an RBI double in the sixth.
Tanner was incredible throughout the tournament for Manitoba. He hit .500 with five doubles and 10 RBIs in six games. He was selected as both the player of the game for the final and the offensive player of the tournament.
