Durham Lords win the 2011 CIBA National Championship
 
MONCTON, NB – The Durham Lords defeated the Humber Hawks 6-1 to win the Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association (CIBA) National Championship hosted by Crandall University in Moncton, New Brunswick on Sunday afternoon.

The win gave the Lords their first national championship title in the 20-year history of the program.

“It’s about time,” joked Sam Dempster, who has been the head coach of the team since it’s first year in 1992. “It is a great day for everyone that has been involved with the baseball program. This is something everyone is going to look back on and be proud of forever.”

Over the weekend, Dempster also reached a milestone as he earned his 300th win as head coach of the Durham Lords baseball program. Dempster has a career record of 302-182 in 20 years as head coach.

“What a great accomplishment for coach Dempster and the entire program,” said Durham College athletic director Ken Babcock. “After challenging for the title for a number of years, winning the national championship is well deserved. I could not be more proud of the entire team on how they represented the college and for all of the effort they put into the program. 2011 CIBA Nationals Champions!”

Durham got out of the gates quickly in the championship game as they scored two runs in the first and second innings to take a 4-0 lead over Humber. Durham got two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth as Tyler Mitchell and Dan Alayon each had RBI singles, giving the Lords a 6-0 advantage.

Humber would answer back with one run in the bottom of the seventh, but starting pitcher Shawn Lamb secured the gold medal victory by striking out Humber’s Brandon Habbi for the final out.

Lamb had a stellar pitching performance, pitching a complete game and allowing only one run on five hits. The Whitby native struck out the side in the sixth inning, going on to compile six strikeouts in total.

Mitchell led the Lords at the plate going 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI’s while Alayon and MacKenzie Clugston each had two hits apiece.

Mitchell was named player of the game for Durham in the finals.

Alayon earned the national championship batting title with a .571 average as he went 8-for-14 at the plate while Mitchell had the most RBI’s with seven in five games.

The Lords earned a spot in the national championship game with a 3-2 victory over the Concordia Stingers. Shaun Slemko, who pitched a one-hitter in the Ontario Finals, had 11 strikeouts in the complete game victory.

Durham had two players that made the 2011 CIBA All-Canadian team. Catcher Jason Wiles and first baseman Dan Alayon earned the national awards.

It was a rematch of the CIBA Ontario Finals, as Durham swept Humber 2-0 in the championship series.

This year was the team’s seventh straight appearance at the national championship and eighth in total. In their previous appearances at the national championship, the Lords have won a bronze medal (1994) and have had five final four appearances (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011) and two fifth place finishes (1999, 2007).

The Lords finish the year with a 22-5 record, the second most wins in Durham College history.

2011 CIBA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Game One: Humber defeated Durham 4-2
Game Two: Durham defeated Concordia 6-5 (8)
Game Three: Durham defeated Crandall 10-0
Semi-Finals: Durham defeated Concordia 3-2
Championship: Durham defeated Humber 6-1

2011 DURHAM COLLEGE BASEBALL ROSTER
  2 - Mackenzie Clugston - Whitby, Ont.
  3 - Michael Cyr - Kitchener, Ont.
  4 - Steve Mitchell - Whitby, Ont.
  6 - Tyler Mitchell - Whitby, Ont.
  7 - Tyler Ryan - Little Britain, Ont.
  8 - Jordan  Blake - Toronto, Ont.
10 - Troy McLoughlin - Newmarket, Ont.
11 - Brennen Conquer - Ajax, Ont.
12 - Julian Daligadu - Whitby, Ont.
15 - Michael Del Fuoco - Whitby, Ont.
16 - Shawn Lamb - Oshawa, Ont.
19 - Dan  Alayon - Whitby, Ont.
20 - Owen Laing - Toronto, Ont.
21 - James Rowe - Whitby, Ont.
22 - Jake Olynyk - Whitby, Ont.
23 - Dale Valade - North Bay, Ont.
24 - Wayne Feltham - Ajax, Ont.
26 - James Wakutz - Toronto, Ont.
28 - Jason Wiles - Oshawa, Ont.
33 - Richard Burke - Ajax, Ont.
37 - Philippe Cote - Pickering, Ont.
44 - Chris Kemlo - Oshawa, Ont.
45 - Shaun Slemko - Courtice, Ont.

Head Coach: Sam Dempster
Assistant Coach: Colin Dempster
Assistant Coach: Bob Johnston
Assistant Coach: Darryl Reid
Statistician: Larry Pearce
Manager Adam Bernicky
Student Trainer: Bernie Santos