A 9-3 regular season signaled McMaster's intent in 2019, and at the OUA Championship tournament this past weekend, the Marauders reinforced that they belong in the conference's upper echelon moving forward.

Despite entering play with the 10th seed on the basis of its finish a season ago, McMaster battled to a 2-1 record in pool play and won through to the semifinal stage before ultimately suffering a heartbreaking, 10-7 loss to the eventual tournament champions, the Laurier Golden Hawks, on Sunday.

Veteran outfielder Nik Motruk was named as the co-recipient of the OUA's Most Valuable Player Award and sole winner of the conference's Top Hitter prize, while earning a spot among the OUA First Team All-Stars alongside teammate Michael Ong.

Its 10th seed placed McMaster in a pool with Laurentian, Ottawa and Windsor.

Mac started pool play by defeating the Voyageurs on Friday morning by a score of 8-0 in five innings.  Julian Tymochko threw a complete game shutout against Laurentian, allowing just three hits, while Jeremie Veilleux and Mark Zanette went two for three with both picking up an RBI.

The Marauders followed that up with a 6-2 victory over the Gee-Gees Friday afternoon. Ethan Hammond-Srsan started the game but left after four innings, allowing a run on three hits, while Nathan Hamel went the rest of the way for the victory. Zanette stayed hot on the day, going two for three once again.

In the final game of pool play, McMaster took on the Windsor Lancers with the number one seed in the playoff portion of the tournament up for grabs. The Marauders fell behind 4-0 in the top of the second but would pick up a single run in each of the third, fifth and sixth innings before dropping the game 5-3.

Ryan Clark took the loss, allowing two runs on one hit and walking two in an inning and a third of work on the mound. Motruk went two for two with a walk and a run batted in.

Despite the loss on Saturday, McMaster qualified for the playoff round as a Wild Card against the Ryerson Rams.

The wild card encounter lived up to its name by delivering 36 runs, 36 hits and score line that would look more convincing in a football game.

McMaster led 11-6 through five innings and then posted six runs in the sixth and seventh innings while Ryerson added seven in the sixth before the Marauders closed out the game 23-13 in seven innings.  Philip Hache went three for four at the plate, scoring four times and batting in five runs.

With the victory the Marauders headed to the semifinals to face the defending OUA champion Laurier Golden Hawks.

Mac jumped out to a 4-1 lead through two innings, before adding a run in each of the fourth and sixth innings, while Laurier had a run cross the plate in the fifth. Leading 6-5, the Marauders added one more in the top of the eighth inning when first-year outfielder Colin Heron hit a solo home run.

The Hawks went on to score twice in the bottom half of the inning to tie it up, and then with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Laurier's Ryley Davenport ended the OUA season for McMaster with a three-run home run.

Laurier advanced to face the Carleton Ravens in the championship and win back-to-back OUA titles.

Marauders veteran infielder Lucas Dasilva would go on to lead the tournament in runs batted in with 10 over the weekend while Heron finished tied for fourth in hitting at .500 (6-for-12).

While the OUA season is over, the Marauders will be back in Ajax October 18-20 after being invited to play in the inaugural Canadian University Baseball tournament, which will be hosted by McGill. The tournament will feature six teams, including McMaster, Laurier, Guelph, McGill, Concordia and Acadia.