The Burlington Bulls began their defense of their title as OSSBA Champions on May 6/2006 and just like they started ’05 against a familiar rival from SOBA’s, in the Pickering Pirates, this years opener brought the Bengals to town. The teams had last met in 2004 and the intense rivalry picked up where it left off and saw the Bulls open the season with a Leyland complete game 3-0 Bulls win. McKnight followed it up with another shutout and the Bulls won 2-0 and went to 2-0 on the year.

The following weekend brought the Dodgers to town and after Eric Conlon showed up late, Leyland made an emergency start, throwing 8 innings to beat Canning and the Dodgers 3-2. Game 2 was all Dodgers as they beat up Dave Willitts for 4 runs in the 2nd and the 3rd to shutout the Bulls sending them to 3-1.

The Bulls then went on a 7 game win streak that saw them sweep the Twins(3-2 and 2-0), Stars(8-3 and 13-4), Indians(18-3 and 16-3) and take game 1 from the Phoenix(7-3) before dropping game 2 (4-0) for a record of 10-2.

A sub par effort against the winless Giants had the Bulls lose Game 1 (7-2) before rebounding to take game 2 (4-1).

The Bulls were 13-3 at the SABL vs OSSBA All Star Break and sent Chris Lord, Kyle Pitman, Bryan Blasko, Jon Leyland and Cam McKnight to the SABL vs. OSSBA game.

The Bulls would then have another let down weekend against Oshawa where they took Game 1, 8-0, but lost game 2 on a game ending triple play (5-2). This marked the Second All Star break for the 14-4 Bulls.

The Bulls sent Chris Lord, Cam McKnight, Bryan Blasko, Brad Guy, Kyle Pitman, Eric Conlon, and Mike Mousseau to the game, as well as 2 of the Bulls Coaches, Mike Masters and Steve Atkinson. A controversial all Bull infield, couldn’t perform up to the hype and the West lost the game.

The Bulls traveled to Pickering where they fell in game 1 (4-2) and won Game 2 (6-3).

Next up was the Barrie tournament and the Bulls started playing some of their baseball all year. They rode the hot bats of Mousseau, Guy and Pitman and swept their division beating the Bengals, Ottawa and Brampton. The Bulls drew a very tough Ottawa team in the semi’s. Chris Hayes pitched well and the Bulls moved on to face Durham in the Finals, where this year, they would not be denied. Eric Conlon pitched 6 strong and Hayes a scoreless 7th to give the Bulls the 1 run victory and their first OSSBA TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP.

The Bulls would ride this momentum back into the regular season and go on a run that saw them take 3 points in Barrie, winning 4-0 and tying 6-6. A sweep of the Tigers (7-5 and 4-2) put the Bulls at 18-5-1.

The Stars had gotten hot during this time period, and the pressure was still on the Bulls in their final weekend of play where they would face Durham in a makeup series and then Bloor.

The Bulls clinched the division with a sweep of Durham (10-5 and 8-6) and then split a meaningless double header the following day to finish at 19-6-1. Tied with RH for top record in the league. 1 point better than both teams 2005 finish.

The Bulls had earned a bye for finishing first and waited while the Twins out lasted the Tigers 2-1 to earn the right to challenge the Bulls.

The Bulls bats exploded in Game 1 and the Bulls won 14-2 and then 5-4 in a much better Game 2. Leyland and McKnight picked up the wins.
The Jenkins finals against the Stars got off to a good start, but the Bulls squandered a 5 run lead and lost 13-5. The Bulls would come back strong, behind a McKnight 10 inning performance that saw the Bulls win game 2(4-3) and then Conlon finished strong with a game 3 victory (4-2) that sent the Bulls back to the finals against the Brooklin Dodgers.

Game 1 was all Mitch Dunn as he pitched an amazing perfect game. Leyland pitched well in opposition, but the Bulls offense could not get anything going and lost (6-0)

Game 2 was another duel, Grabowski and McKnight and it’s one of the rare games where an umpires call changed the outcome of the game. Down 1 run, with runners on 2nd and 3rd, a ground ball was caught (on a great play by SS) but the throw was wide and carried the first baseman well off bag. Everyone in the park saw it was the wrong call, except the umpire, who called the runner out negating the game winning run that was crossing the plate. End result. Bulls lose 2-1 and Brooklin takes commanding 2-0 series lead.

The Bulls traveled to Brooklin the next weekend with a daunting task, but with Conlon, Leyland and McKnight, one they knew they were up to. The Bulls fought hard in game 3, but a missed double play and a ball lost in centrefield, wound up being the difference as the Bulls fell (8-4). The season was over and despite Game 2, everyone could only tip their hats to the Dodgers, who played some of the best baseball they’ve ever played in their amazing run beating Pickering, Durham, Richmond Hill and the Bulls.

The Bulls did not achieve their end goal of title defense, but nevertheless, had some major positives to draw on including their first pennant, the OSSBA tournament win and back to back berths in the finals. Of the 34 games (regular season and playoffs) the Bulls played 4 one run games.(3-1 record in them) They shutout their opponents in 5 games. Of the 13 double headers the Bulls swept 6, split 7 and were never swept . Overall record of 23-10-1 (plus 5-0 in Barrie Tournament).

End of season awards go to:

Offensive MVP – Mike Mousseau
CY Young – Jon Leyland
Gold Glove/Defensive player of year – Chris Lord
Most Improved player – Jay Hogan
Team MVP – Cam McKnight
The OFFSEASON – of the 14 Bulls on the roster, all 14 have indicated a desire to return to the ’07 club. There has also been talks of adding call up Jaime Kozak who was 2-0 in his 2 starts as a Bull during the year. There have also been several other people approach the league about a spot on the team and only time will tell what direction the young franchise will go in.