Some of the best college baseball players from across Ontario will be in Sarnia this weekend, as Lambton College hosts the OCAA Men's Baseball Championships.
The event features the top six clubs from the 2024 season vying for the title.
Games are being played at Errol Russell Park on Devine Street, starting with Lambton facing Fanshawe in the opener at 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
The full schedule can be found below.
Lambton College Athletics Manager James Grant is excited.
"It's been awesome playing at home, the amount of people that have come out to watch the games," said Grant. "Errol Russell Park has kind of turned into the park in the province that people want to play at. We've had so many tournaments here over the summer and everybody is excited to come to Sarnia with the crowd and the location."
Grant said there are a few reasons why Errol Russell is a top notch facility.
"A lot of it has to do with the playing surface, you're almost guaranteed to be playing on a pro-level surface," he said. "Jim Bigras, he's out there volunteering for us and the city has done a really good job with this place. It's a pleasure to play on. People say ground balls roll true and you're able to run in the outfield and make good plays. It's a nice park to play at."
Grant expects the Lambton College squad to be competitive.
"We started in 2019 with the first year of baseball then COVID hit and kind of made us restart again," said Grant. "This is kind of the year that the plan was to come together with a competitive team, build it for two or three years. The players have really shown they can compete at this level. We've got a good team, I know anything can happen in baseball but the guys have as good of a chance as anyone to win it."
There will be a total of nine games over the three day event.
Admission is $5 for a day pass and $10 for the weekend.
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Thursday, October 17 3 p.m. – Game 1: Lambton Lions Opening Game vs Fanshawe 5:30 p.m. – Game 2: Centennial vs. Humber
Friday, October 18 10 a.m. – Game 3: Lowest Remaining Seed vs Durham 12:30 p.m. – Game 4: Highest Remaining Seed vs St, Clair College 3 p.m. – Game 5: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 5:30 p.m. – Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
Saturday, October 19 10 a.m. – OCAA Bronze Medal Game 1 p.m. – OCAA Gold Medal Game *3:30 p.m. – If Necessary, OCAA Gold Medal Game 2