Guelph Silvercreeks

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[edit] Brief team history

The Guelph Silvercreeks are a junior aged (males 18 to 21) baseball club from Guelph, Ontario that play out of the Junior Inter County Baseball League in Southwestern Ontario. The team is often referred to as "The Creeks".

The team had not won the league championship for a long period of time until 1989 and then became one of the the more dominant teams in the junior inter county loop throughout the 1990s and well into the 2000s.

Prior to 1999 they were known as the Guelph Junior Royals (1995-1998), the Royal City Optimist Club Junior Royals (1990s-1994), The Projoys (mid 1980s-early 1990s). The team's name was changed in 1999 to Silvercreeks by Walter McGregor and Billy Craven to separate the team's identity from all of the local sports clubs all of whom use the nickname Royals. The Silvercreeks name was the original name of the team back in the 1870s.

All Home games are played at Hastings Stadium (Exhibition Park).

[edit] Recent Managers

Years Manager
1988 - 1991 Dino Roumel
1992 - 1993 Mike Bondy
1994 - 1998 Ron Nicholls, Terry Churchill
1999 - 2007 Scott Van de Valk


[edit] Recent History in the Junior Inter County

Games of note include:

In 1999 - Trailing 17-3 mid way through a home game against Kitchener the Silvereeks rally to avoid the league's ten run mercy rule in the seventh inning and comeback to win the game 18-17 in nine innings. Catcher Ryan Davison steals home to score the winning run.

In 2002 the Silvercreeks open their season with a no hitter over Cambridge. Chris Coughlin pitched the complete game for the victory. The Silvercreeks would open the OBA tournament later that season with a perfect game victory over Whitby thrown by Andrew Karkoulas.

In 2003 Frankie Hare hits for the cycle against Waterloo. The Guelph-Waterloo championship series would become to be known as "the Blackout series" as most of the east coast had no power and the series had to played despite the rolling blackouts and drew the ire of Guelph city counsellor Maggie Laidlaw prompting then Creeks General Manager Neiil Srivastava to say "Maggie can kiss my butt. There's a thousand people watching the game which means there's gotta be a few hundred less people using their AC and power at home." The final game of the series started at 4 pm on the Tuesday afternoon following the blackout due to the power still being out in Waterloo. The Tigers built up an 9-0 lead and held off the Creeks to win 9-8 as the sun was setting. An estimated 1300 fans attended the game which is believed to be a league attendance record.

Year Regular Season Playoffs
1999 Won Regular Season Pennant Lost Championship Series to London 3-2
2000 Won Championship Series over Waterloo
2001 Won Championship Series over London 3-0
2002 Won Regular Season Pennant Won Championship Series over Brantford 3-1
2003 Won Regular Season Pennant Lost Championship series to Waterloo 3-2
2004 Won Regular Season Pennant Won Championship Series over Waterloo 3-0
2005 Won Regular Season Pennant Won Championship Series over St. Thomas 3-2
2006 Won Regular Season Pennant Lost Championship Series to St.Thomas 3-1
2007 Won Regular Season Pennant Won Championship Series over Brantford 2-0


[edit] The Streak 2001-2002

From the period of July 2001 - to July 2002 the Silvercreeks went 40 consecutive games without a loss or 371 days. The Streak started with a thrilling 7-5 comeback victory over the Listowel Legionaires and continued into the 2001 playoffs as the Silvercreeks won both their semi finals series over Waterloo and Championship series over London by 3 games to none victories. In 2002 the winning streak continued as the Silvercreeks recorded the first ever perfect season of 27-0 in the history of the Junior Intercounty . The streak ended at game #41 following an 8-7 loss to Peterborough at the Whitby Tournament.


[edit] Recent History at the Ontario Baseball Association Championships

Year
1998 Lost to North York in Finals
1999 Lost to Brampton in Semi-Finals
2003 Lost to Oshawa in Semi-Finals
2004 Lost to Waterloo in Semi-Finals


In 2006 the Silvercreeks defeated the Quebec Junior Elites 6-5 in extra innings to win their first Canadian Jr. Baseball Championship. The team dedicated their victory to their long time fan and former business manager Billy Craven whom had passed away just days prior to the start of the tournament.

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