Sultans drop hard-fought final to take silver at 22U nationals

The Carillon Sultans may have been one hit away from a national championship.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning to the defending champion Windsor Selects, Carillon batters struck out twice in a row before a pop out to the catcher ended the threat. The Sultans would go on to lose 5-0 in the gold medal game Aug. 9 in southern Ontario.

Carillon didn’t get another base runner after the bottom of the fourth until the last out of the game. The Sultans won the bronze medal game at the 2025 edition of the tournament.

“That was a tough one,” head coach Don Meilleur said after arriving back in Manitoba.”

“We’re such a good team, such a tight team, and two years in a row losing to Windsor because of a pitcher.”

Windsor made a pitching change as Carillon loaded the bases and it paid off, with McGill University’s Will Greer providing those high-leverage strikeouts to win the game for Windsor.

“If we would have seen him a third time through the line-up I feel we would have started to get something, but unfortunately he came in half-way through the game,” Meilleur said.

Meilleur said Greer threw his fastball at 93 miles per hour, faster than the Sultans had seen all season.

“He threw so hard,” Meilleur said.

“He threw well and he threw strikes and he had a good curveball. Our guys just couldn’t piece anything together and that’s the way it goes… It gets on you so fast, and he’s a big kid so it makes it look even faster.”

The fourth was the Sultans best chance to generate runs in the gold medal game, with the Selects clinching the championship with four runs in the top of the seventh to win 5-0.

Carillon ace Connor Martin was limited to just 90 pitches due to strict restrictions, but still managed to go five and a third innings while striking out seven. He was responsible for the winning run, with Windsor’s Nash Driedger hitting a single and scoring on a Lucas Laprise double in the top of the fourth.

Colson Smith took to the mound for Carillon after Martin’s day was done but slightly struggled with his control, walking a pair of batters in the top of the seventh and letting a run home on a balk. A ball bouncing away from shortstop Cedric Lagasse on an error put the nail in Carillon’s dreams of a national championship.

The Sultans victory over Windsor in the round robin may have been the game of the tournament, with a Lagasse hitting a game-tying home run in the bottom of the seventh, before a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth gave the Manitoba champions a memorable victory.

Six teams from across Canada were at the tournament, with a round robin deciding the top two teams for a winner-takes-all gold medal game. Meilleur liked the format, noting very game mattered for Carillon.

“Every single game was intense, lots of good energy, the guys were positive on the bench, our crowd was great,” he said.

“There was no negatives at all this week, other than yesterday at the end of the game.”

Many fans tuned into the game broadcasts online, produced by WeDigital. Meilleur praised the broadcast team for their work throughout the weekend, as it allowed fans in Manitoba to follow the team even when far away.

“The guys really appreciated that some old coaches and some old teammates were watching back home, watching every game, every pitch,” Meilleur said.

“We felt the support not only from the people that were there in Windsor, but the ones back home.”

Meilleur said his message after the gold medal game was to be proud of being a top-three team in Canada for two years in a row, despite the tough loss.

“We won’t appreciate it today, we didn’t appreciate it yesterday, we probably won’t appreciate it in a week, but as time goes along the fact we can say we’re silver medalists, I think the guys will have fond memories of the weekend,” Meilleur said.

“It’s still too raw and it hurts to much right now to be happy with a silver.”

The Sultans will be back at the national championships next season, hoping to medal for a third consecutive year closer to home. The tournament will be hosted in Winkler, with Carillon playing alongside hosts Pembina Valley as Manitoba Junior Baseball League champions of 2026.

vs SARNIA BRIGADE

The Carillon Sultans top arm showed why he is considered one of the province’s top talents, as Connor Martin picked up the win for Manitoba in their opener at the 22U National Championships.

Martin struck out nine across five innings of work, giving up no earned runs in Carillon’s 6-3 win over Sarnia. Pick-up player from Elmwood Colson Smith pitched a pair of scoreless innings in relief to earn the save.

The Sultans trailed 2-1 heading into the top of the fifth inning before plating five runs across two innings. They out-hit Sarnia 12-4 in the win, powered by a three-hit, three-RBI performance from Brady Papineau.

Papineau’s biggest hit came in that fifth inning, bringing Cedric Lagasse and Joe Plett home on a double, before scoring from second on a Dayton Christensen single to flip the game.

vs TECUMESEH THUNDER

Another fifth inning outburst led Carillon to their second win at the national championships, as they defeated hosts Tecumeseh 5-4 despite getting out-hit 11-9 on the day.

Cody Wielgosh was the hero, crushing a three-run homer in the top of the second inning to provide some much-needed early offense for the Manitoba champions.

The game was played just three hours after the first pitch of the Sarnia game and it looked like the Thunder were able to take advantage, scoring four in the first two innings before Lagasse, who started for Carillon, could settle down. It was a combined pitching effort, with Carson Janzen and Ryan Powers combining to throw three and two-thirds of scoreless ball after Lagasse left in the top of the third.

Three hits in the top of the fifth provided the offense needed to secure the win, with Jackson Penner grounding into a fielder’s choice enough to score Joe Plett, who hit an RBI double to tie the game earlier in the inning.

vs DARTMOUTH RENEGADES

Carillon’s offense was stymied outside of a four-run first inning as the Nova Scotia representatives managed to score seven runs on just nine hits, winning 7-4.

The game was decided in the first two innings, with the teams exchanging runs. Dartmouth managed to take a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the second and turned a double-play to prevent a two-hit inning from generating any runs.

The Sultans only managed a single hit the rest of the game. Jake Trask, who is a U18 pitcher set to graduate high school next season pitched six innings in the win, bouncing back from the first inning to dominate the rest of the game. He allowed just one hit and one walk in the five innings after the first.

Jackson Penner and Mike Lindsay combined to pitch for Carillon in the loss.

vs WINDSOR SELECTS

Carillon kept their strong position to make the national final intact thanks to a walk-off 7-6 victory over the Windsor Selects.

The Sultans scored a pair in the bottom of the seventh just to force extra innings, where they responded with a pair of runs to erase a single from the Selects and win the game.

Lagasse continued his reputation of delivering in the biggest moments for the Sultans over the years, hitting a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game.

The top of the seventh saw Windsor play some small ball to re-take the lead. With the placed runner on second, the Selects bunted him over to third and scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Sultans played it differently in the bottom half, letting Christensen hit. He rewarded the aggressive play with a single, advancing placed runner Papineau to third without giving up an out. Martin managed to reach on an error to tie the game, with Mike Lindsay just needing a sacrifice fly to score pinch-runner Mason Hooper after a productive out from Plett advanced runners on a fielders choice.

Pick-up player Josh Dyck managed the first six innings, with Carson Janzen throwing the seventh/eighth and picking up the win.

vs HALIFAX METS

The Sultans clinched a spot in the national championship final with a 13-8 victory over Halifax, finishing pool play atop the round robin standings.

Carillon nearly wrapped things up early, taking a 10-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a seven-run outburst in the second inning. A potential mercy rule victory was ended in the top of the fifth, as the Mets plated five runs.

They even threatened to get back into the game, drawing to within two in the top of the sixth, only for an error-filled bottom half to restore the sizable Sultans lead.

All of the runs in the decisive second inning came with two outs on the board. It was a hitting clinic for Carillon, which didn’t produce an extra base hit in the outburst, instead using six singles and two walks to plate their runs.

Cedric Lagasse went five and two-thirds giving up seven earned, with Ryan Powers closing the game.