The Queen's Gaels used a strong eight inning performance by right hander Jordan Herbison and a four hit game by right-fielder Curt Smith to beat the Waterloo Warriors. With the win the Gaels are the bronze medalists at the 2017 OUA baseball championship.

Herbison, one of the top starters in the OUA during the regular season, surrendered only three runs on seven hits over eight innings. He constantly pitched ahead and attacked the zone resulting in nine strikeouts.

Queen's scored three runs in the first inning on a bases loaded walk and back to back singles by Curt Smith and Joey Stipec. Kail Belowglowka would drive in two on a towering double in the third, and Smith would drive in runs in both the fourth and sixth to give him three runs batted in on the day. 

Waterloo starter Luis Grisanti was pulled in the second after Queen's put runners on first and second with no one out and up by three. Rayman Singh would come in to strand the runners and provide Waterloo six innings of relief.

In the top of the fifth, with Waterloo trailing 6-0, the Warriors got on the board on a two out triple by Michael Kritz. In the sixth they would add another two more runs on a double by Paul Boyadjian. That would cut the lead in half, but Waterloo would be shut down by Herbison and reliever Devin Burns.

"In each game we were tested, we built up big leads and we needed to bear down when other teams were able to string things together. That is something that Queen's teams from the past wouldn't be able to do. This is a more resilient group than in the past and is a big leap for our program," said Queen's head coach Jeff Skelhorne-Gross.

Skelhorne-Gross had praise for the performance of the Gaels opponents. The ninth ranked Waterloo Warriors team surprised many making their way to the Bronze medal game. "The story of this tournament was the Waterloo Warriors and the run they put together in these playoffs. After a rough regular season, being able to get through the play in and knock off Brock it was pretty incredible," said Skelhorne-Gross.

Queen's would score single runs in the sixth and seventh to beat the Waterloo Warriors 8-3, and be awarded the Bronze Medal of the OUA baseball championship.