Local Ball Players Win Gold

Three local baseball players, Wheatley’s Thomas Grubb Dresden’s Matt Cook, and Kent Bridge’s Luke Van Rycheghem won gold on the National stage this past weekend.

Van Rycheghem was one of North York’s top hitters at the Canadian Bantam Baseball championships, helping them stay perfect in pool play, and eventually defeat British Columbia 8-1 in the gold medal game. Overall, Van Rycheghem went 9-for-19, hitting .474 with 7 RBIs.

The Kent Bridge resident who played club baseball in Windsor this year, also starred on the pitchers mound for North York, going 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA, and a tournament leading 22 strikeouts. In the semi-final facing Nova Scotia, Van Rycheghem struck out an incredible 16 batters in seven innings work.

Meanwhile, Matt Cook and Thomas Grubb won gold at the Canadian Senior Mens Baseball Championships with the Windsor Stars. Cook, who plays University baseball for Madonna University, both pitched and played the field for Windsor, while Grubb starred at the plate, including a sparkling 2-for-3 performance in Windsor’s 3-1 gold medal game win over British Columbia.