The Redmen are National Champions.

You aren’t going to hear that phrase often at McGill unless you’re talking about the baseball program, which won it all in ‘06, made the final in ‘08, and climbed to the pinnacle yet again this past weekend, winning the national championships.

Despite entering the tournament as a wild card and winning only 33 per cent of their round robin matches, the Redmen stepped up in the clutch, winning three straight elimination games en route to the title.

The Redmen started the tournament off hot, beating the Atlantic Conference Champion Cape Breton Capers 8-2 on Friday, in a powerful team hitting performance supported by strong pitching from David Haberstram.

On Saturday, McGill was shut out in two straight against Durham (8-0) and Concordia (5-0). The two losses pushed McGill to the brink of elimination, forcing the team to play a one-game tiebreak against the St. Claire Saints. McGill trailed 4-0 after two innings but scored 16 unanswered runs, keeping their season alive with a 16-4 win.

In the semifinals on Sunday McGill faced the undefeated Durham Lords, who had a 21-0 record entering the game. McGill had veteran ace Anthony Carbone on the mound, who up until then had not pitched more than a single inning in any game due to an arm injury.

Carbone threw a complete game, allowing only four hits, shutting out the Lords 3-0 and leading the Redmen to the final.

“I actually wanted that game so badly,” said Carbone. “I was a little worried, to be honest, before the game started that my arm wouldn’t hold up for all seven innings, because going into every game I thought, ‘I want to end every game I start.’ I wasn’t sure how my arm was going to react after having not pitched more than an inning all year but … I just felt so confident because of all the boys behind me and how well we were playing.”

In the final, the Redmen faced the Brock Badgers, who eliminated the Stingers in the other semi. McGill opened the game with two quick runs in the first inning but the Badgers then scored five straight.

The Redmen hitters broke loose again in the fourth for six runs and a lead that they never relinquished, but not before the Brock bats tested McGill’s vaunted pitching depth.

L.J. Aguinaga came on in relief of starter and game one hero David Haberman after a tough two innings. Rookie Daniel Porter replaced him with the bases loaded in the sixth. He finished the game against the heart of the Badgers’ order and earned the save.

Chan Arndt took home tournament MVP honours going 12 for 21 with eight RBI.

Shortstop Alexander Day caught the fly ball that gave McGill the win.

“There was one out left … I turned to Chan at third base and he smiled at me and I smiled at him and then Chan yelled at me like, ‘shut up, shut up, focus!’ And the next thing you know there’s a soft line-drive hit my way. I think I was already three feet in the air smiling and jumping.”

The Redmen retained four former National Champions from the 2006 team: Noah Lezcz, Anthony Carbone, Alexander Day and Jacob Gallinger. Perhaps more importantly, the team has a number of holdovers from 2008, when McGill got all the way to the final and led in the fifth inning before losing to the University of New Brunswick Cougars.

“This season, honestly, player-for-player, I think the teams we beat on Sunday were probably superior talent than us,” said Alexander Day. “But what made this win special is that we were able to win based on the X-factor, the team unity.”

McGill Head Coach Ernie D’Alessandro, in his 15th year with the team, was happy with the character his team showed.

“Guys are playing with — I mean, I’m pretty sure one of my guys has a broken bone in the foot— they gutted it out the whole tournament and we never, never doubted ourselves,” he said.

Josh Gordon was named to the Nationals All-Star Team as a first baseman and Daniel Kost-Stephenson was named Pitcher of the Year.

Next season McGill’s most successful team expects to see increased fan support at Trudeau Field as they begin their title defence.