The stakes were high July 24, 2009 on a warm Prince George night.
Canada was playing a star-studded Team USA in a first-versus-second playoff for the right to play in the final of the World Baseball Challenge.
A crowd of about 2,500 packed the bleachers at Citizen Field and they were treated to what was one of the most memorable baseball games in the city's sporting history.
Founded in the West Kootenay town of Grand Forks in 2002 and held every two years, the WBC tournament came to Prince George for the first time in 2009, bringing local fans their first taste of international baseball played on home soil.
The Americans were a dream-team collection of the best college players in the country. Twelve of those players are now playing in the major leagues. The U.S. roster included pitchers Sonny Gray (Oakland A's), Drew Pomeranz (San Diego Padres), Trevor Bauer (Cleveland Indians), Chad Bettis (Colorado Rockies), and Gerrit Cole (Pittsburgh Pirates); outfielders Tyler Holt (Cincinnati Reds), Michael Choice (Cleveland) and Bryce Brentz (Boston); and infielders Brad Miller (Tampa Bay Rays), Kolten Wong (St. Louis Cardinals), Yasmani Grandal (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Christian Colon (Kansas City Royals), the team captain.
"We were really pumped up for that game for what was at stake," said Colon, following batting practice last week in Kansas City. "The crowd was really into it, I remember that, and the players were playing really hard. It was just one of those games I will never forget."
The U.S. took an early lead in the second inning when Andy Wilkins tripled off pitcher Jordan Rawlyk, scoring Grandal from second. In the top of the eighth inning, a play involving Colon became the lightning rod that spiked the emotions of two neighbouring countries, whose teams that night turned into bitter rivals.
Trying to avoid an elimination game the following day, Team USA had its ace, Cole, on the mound. Still four years away from making his major league debut, Cole came to Prince George as a first-round draft pick of the New York Yankees the previous year. It was hard for batters not to be intimidated by the hard-throwing, six-foot-four, 230-pound right-hander from California and right from his opening pitch the fans at Citizen Field were into the game.
Colon, representing his country for the fourth time, was having a great summer. Hitting .362, he led Team USA with five home runs and 37 RBI, and was virtually flawless defensively at shortstop. Unfortunately, he did not get to see his team clinch the WBC title two days later.
Down 1-0 in the eighth, Canadian left fielder Nic Lendvoy led off the inning with a single to right field. The next batter, Junior Nicholls, bunted the ball to third baseman Rick Hague, who tossed it to Colon at second base. Lendvoy came in at top speed and while trying to break up the double play at second base he took out Colon with a hard slide. The collision broke Colon's leg in two places.
"It was a bunt and I went to cover it and I got the ball and threw it and I think (Lendvoy) was halfway so I never thought he would keep going and to me it was a stupid play, to be honest," said Colon. "I thought for sure he was going to peel off because I got the ball and he was out. But at the end of the day it gave me motivation to be where I'm at today. He got me pretty good, but that didn't stop me from being able to fulfill my dreams."
Lendvoy said he was just doing what he could to try to prevent the second out.
"Knowing the significance of a man in scoring position in a 1-0 game, I knew my one job was to get to that base regardless of what or who stood in the way," said Lendvoy, reached at his home in Maple Ridge. "Worst-case scenario, so I thought, they get me at second and I break up the double play by forcing the infielder off the bag. We're trained to run through every possible outcome of a play between pitches and I knew as soon as I saw the bunt go down I was taking off.
"Colon was on the bag early and I guess it wasn't a spectacular bunt because he got the ball quickly. I knew I was dead at second and now my job was to make sure that throw didn't reach first. As Canadians we have a reputation as being scrappy when it comes to baseball. We may not have the most talented guys on the field but you can bet we're going to work and play harder than any team out there. As hard-nosed as we play the game though, we never set out to injure anyone and I definitely wasn't looking to take Colon out of the game, I was just trying to get a job done."
Second base umpire Rob Allan of Maple Ridge made the call that Lendvoy's slide was legal. The WBC was played under major league rules, which were different at the time from college rules. The rules changed after last year's MLB playoffs, when Chase Utley of the New York Mets broke the leg of Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Ruben Tejada when he slid into Tejada trying to break up a double play. At that time, it was legal for a baserunner coming into second base to change his pathway in an attempt to contact the fielder, rather than sliding directly to the base, as long as the slide began before the baserunner got to the bag.
"I know we talked to the teams, especially the U.S. team before the tournament even started, about the slide at second base and that we were playing the major league rules and not the college rules and there was a big difference in the rules there," said Allan.
"In U.S. college you have to slide directly into the bag. You can make contact with the (fielder) but you can't slide wide and reach the bag. The major league rule (until it was changed) allowed you to slide and as long as you could still reach the bag (with a hand) and if you stay low with your slide, it was considered legal."
Lendvoy, a UBC medical student at the time, was surprised when Colon made no attempt to avoid the slide until it was too late. His leg smashed into Colon's ankle, breaking the fibula and tibia.
"I don't think he was admiring his throw as much as he just wasn't used to guys coming in hard trying to break up a double play," said Lendvoy. "I'm sure his mentality was, how many double plays has he turned where he doesn't have to worry about someone sliding through, so I'm sure it wasn't on his mind that we were playing those rules, but it was made clear to everyone.
"He tried to jump out of the way at the last minute but having all his weight pushing off one leg while I impacted him just made it worse. His leg buckled with a sickeningly audible crack for the combined forces of his weight pushing off and my leg catching it from the side.
"With my background in sports science I knew it was broken immediately. I didn't know what to do and he was screaming in pain on the ground so I stood around for a second before heading off the field and I think the guys on the U.S. team thought I was rubbing it in his face or chirping him a bit, so that's when everything started to escalate."
Allan was one of six umpires on the field and his only responsibility was to make the calls at second base.
"When Nic came into second on that play, I remember Christian making the throw to first and I stayed with the play and watched the slide to make sure it was legal," Allan said. "I remember watching Christian just standing there almost beside the bag, just kind of admiring his throw to see if he was going to get the out at first, and not paying attention to what was happening at the time.
"Nic came in really aggressively and just kind of laid out sideways and reached up towards the bag so he could legally reach the bag and I think his shin hit Christian Colon right where the leg and the ankle meet. I knew right way Christian's ankle was broken and I knew that was going to be trouble, him being their captain and their star player. I remember thinking, 'Holy crap, here comes a brawl.'"
Both dugouts emptied as the teams ran onto the field to confront each other. Allan and the rest of his umpire crew, which included Terry Shaw of Prince George, rushed into the fray as peacemakers and formed a wall between the teams to break up what could have turned into an ugly brawl.
"I did my best to let them know that the slide was clean and said that a couple times right away to the manager (Rick Jones)," said Allan. "I wanted him to know the slide was clean according to the rules we were playing with and he never argued that it wasn't a clean slide. I think he knew it was clean, it's just that he didn't like seeing his player get hurt, especially his star player.
"Their centrefielder (Michael Choice) and the catcher (Yasmani Grandal) were going crazy and I remember (Grandal) trying to get around us. We had some big boys as umpires and there were six of us but I'm still surprised we managed to keep them apart. We knew if we could stop the words, hopefully there wouldn't be any punches, but they kept yelling at each other."
Jones backed Colon's version of what happened in an article published in Baseball America.
"The umpire said you can make contact at the bag, but the play had developed and was over with by the time the slide occurred," said Jones. "That's the thing that left Christian exposed. It was just disappointing to see him go out like that."
Colon, who was 20 at the time, was taken to hospital for X-rays and was sent on the next flight to Los Angeles. Both bones were broken cleanly and after surgery he made a complete recovery.
"Obviously my teammates were coming out to protect me and his teammates were out there and it was a good job by the umpires to calm that situation down," said Colon. "The fans were really into it and I'm sure both teams wanted to get at each other, it's just things that happen in the heat of the moment.
"That was a play that was a turning point in my career and in my life - it kind of helped me just get through bad adversity. I missed the fall (season) at Cal State Fullerton and when I came in the spring I was ready to go."
Order was finally restored on the field and Canada was unable to score and still trailed 1-0 going into the top half of the ninth inning. Cole, incensed about the play which injured his teammate, was showing his aggression, which prompted a warning from home plate umpire Jason Rogers, an NCAA official from Arizona.
"We had to settle him down on the mound," said Allan. "We laid out warnings that if he threw at anybody he'd be ejected right away. His manager talked to him and you could just tell he was throwing harder after that. He was throwing 99 or 100 miles an hour at that point because he was so pissed off and the adrenaline. I was thinking to myself, 'I hope he doesn't hit anybody with that baseball because it's going to seriously hurt somebody and we won't be able to stop the brawl this time.'"
The fans at Citizen Field were letting the Americans know they were behind the guys in red and white and had their backs no matter what, and the catcalls were raining down from the stands.
"Both teams were pretty fired up immediately after," said Lendvoy. "The U.S. captain had just gone down, so they were rightfully upset and our boys aren't ones to back down so we were toe-to-toe for a bit, but it never hit the ignition point where punches were thrown.
"The fans really got into it at that point and either a coach or a couple players from the U.S. team started talking back to them, so that's when the entire crowd started yelling at them. I think the coaches on both sides and the umpires did a great job de-escalating the situation. Cole had to be warned about throwing at guys in retaliation for obvious reasons - a 100 mph fastball could easily take a life.
"Once the game got started again he was definitely at another level of intensity on the mound though. He was lights-out for pretty much the rest of the game. I never saw another at-bat, but by the way he was throwing, I'm sure it wouldn't have mattered."
Cole retired the side with three strikeouts to end the game. He allowed just two hits all game and had seven strikeouts.
Both teams declined the traditional post-game handshakes and the war of words continued as they left the field under police escort. The teams were supposed to share a bus back to their rooms at the UNBC student residence buildings and another bus had to be called in to keep them separate. At the dorms, the Canadian players were staying one floor below the Americans.
"The fans were fired up for the remainder of the game and by the end of it the organizers wanted to make sure everyone was safe and nobody did anything stupid," said Lendvoy. "I don't think anyone would have gotten hurt, but the RCMP escort did take them off the field and back to the (residence). As a team we were told to keep our distance from them. Nothing ever happened back at the dorms and at the end of the tournament both teams were at the same bar together with no issues.
"I didn't play them until we met again in Tokyo in 2010. My first at-bat the pitcher threw two balls behind my head before the umpire gave him a warning and guys in our dugout were getting loud. I hit the next pitch off the wall in right field for a single and was faced with another possible double-play situation. Sure enough, the next batter hit a ground ball and they went to turn the double play on us. I slid into the bag but the shortstop cleared out and turned the double play, all bones accounted for."
As good as they were that year, rolling to a 6-1 WBC record, the one blemish in the Americans' record was a 6-3 loss earlier in the week to Germany, the team which beat Canada 4-2 in the semifinal. In the WBC title game, Pomeranz pitched a one-hitter through seven innings and the U.S. defeated Germany 8-1.
During the nine-day tournament, the American team had time away from the ballpark to get to know Prince George and the surrounding area and the players spent an afternoon at Forests For the World fishing in Shane Lake. For many of them, it was their first visit to Canada.
"I remember it was beautiful, a lot of green, and the field was beautiful," said Colon. "We were staying in the dorms and it was a lot of fun. It was a great tournament."
Colon, picked fourth overall by the Royals in the 2010 draft, went on to become a Word Series hero in last year's playoffs when he drove in the winning run in the fifth and final game against the New York Mets. Colon came off the bench as a pinch hitter in a 2-2 game and connected for a line drive to left field which brought Jarrod Dyson in from third base, and the Royals went on to win 7-2. At the time, Colon hadn't seen a live pitch in 28 days.
"I was just trying to keep it simple, I just had to put the ball in play because Dyson has great speed," said Colon. "We've got a special group of guys, they're very clutch players, they love the moment and we're like brothers here because we came up together. Hopefully I can help win another championship."
Now working as a musculoskeletal clinician and performance therapist in Vancouver, the 29-year-old Lendvoy is relieved Colon went on to resume his college career at Cal State Fullerton and made it to the majors.
"I would have hated to think I negatively impacted a guy's career who had that much potential," said Lendvoy. "I didn't get the chance to watch his game-winning hit live, but I heard from a couple people almost immediately that he'd been the hero. I'm happy for him. He works his ass off and from what I've heard about him, he's a great guy."
