Ottawa

Champions hurler sets single-game strikeout record

If Gatineau's Phillippe Aumont is angling for a return to the big leagues, last night's performance certainly helped.

Phillippe Aumont of Gatineau strikes out 18 batters

Aumont, now 31, bounced around from the Majors, to the minors, and then independent baseball with the Ottawa Champions, where he set a single-game Can-Am League record with 18 strikeouts on July 16, 2019, against the Rockland Boulders. (Marc Lafleur/Ottawa Champions)

If Gatineau's Phillippe Aumont is angling for a return to the big leagues, last night's performance certainly helped.

The Ottawa Champions hurler struck out 18 batters in a 5-1 win over the Rockland Boulders, setting a single-game Can-Am League record in the process.

Aumont broke the record with his 16th strikeout of the game in the eighth inning, before adding two more for good measure.

It was also the 30-year-old's fourth complete game of the season. 

Aumont, a former first-round draft pick who played in parts of four MLB seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, currently leads all Can-Am League starting pitchers in strikeouts with 101.

His 2.06 ERA also is also tops among the league's starting pitchers.

He's also one of a pair of Champions players who'll be representing Team Canada when the Pan-Am Games get underway later this month in Lima, Peru.

That said, Aumont's sterling mound performance wasn't the only notable Ottawa achievement last night: outfielder Malik Collymore also tied a single-game league record with five stolen bases.