OC Coyotes ousts PBA for CCBC World Series title

By Lethbridge Herald on May 23, 2022.

Herald photo by Justin Seward PBA Dawgs’ Aaron Charchuk fouls off a ball in the Canadian College Baseball Conference World Series final against the Okanagan College Coyotes on Monday at Spitz Stadium.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Okanagan College Coyotes pitcher Chris Wyslobocki threw eight strong innings on route to shutting out the Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs 5-0 in the Canadian College Baseball Conference World Series final on Monday at Spitz Stadium.

Wyslobocki only gave up four hits in those eight innings, while Corey Lawson pitched the ninth and only allowed a single hit in the championship win.

The Dawgs Max  Benton only threw two innings before being replaced by Ty Schaffer for six innings of work.

PBA coach Todd Hubka tipped his hat to the Coyotes.

“Well first off, hats off to Okanagan College — they were the best team all year— and they showed why they’re the best team today,” said Hubka.

“You know, they started their ace on the hill and you can understand why he’s the ace. He threw really well against us , kept us off balance and pitched a hell of a game.”

PBA had an uphill battle to get to the final as after losing their second game 16-2 to the UFV Cascades on Saturday, the Dawgs played three one-game elimination games and won them all.

PBA won their opener 5-4 over the TRU Wolfpack on Thursday.

“I felt that our bats looked tired today and it’s just hard,” said Hubka.

“I’m proud of our guys, they battled as hard as they could. We ran out of gas at the end and Okanagan deserves it. They played one hell of a weekend.”

When Hubka was asked about the experience of the championship game, his answer was simple.

“Losing sucks,” he said.

“That’s what you learn and what we talked about and remember how it feels and you play this game to win. When the kids get here in September, we talk about that—  our goal is to win a championship at the end of the year and if you don’t win a championship, it’s not a great season.”

Hubka never had a year like this with players being injured.

“Even before Christmas, we lost two pitchers to some arm problems and then you know lost another  kid after one bullpen  after Christmas, he said.

“And then the steam rolling of the broken hands, blown out knees and hamstrings. I’ve never had a year like this where there was so much injuries. You know what, it’s  awesome that the next guy had to step up. That’s why there are 24 guys on a baseball team. It takes all 24 to win and I’m proud of the guys.”

PBA is always the youngest team in this league and it always has to do with maturity, said Hubka.

“The maturity, it finally showed at the end,” he said.

“If we would’ve played our whole year like we played these last four days — who knows, maybe we wouldn’t have been in second place. But that’s a part of the game and learning the game the right way.”

Editors Note: In the original May 24 published story, the name  Michael Benton was incorrectly spelt and should read Max Benton. The Herald apologizes for any inconvienances this may have caused.