Barrie Wins thrilling game of the year Candidate vs Welland

Barrie, ON - The Barrie Baycats and Welland Jackfish have been two of the premier teams of the IBL (now the CBL) for the last few years. Something special seems to always happen when the two rivals face each other.

After already playing an extra-inning thriller earlier this season, which ended on a Barrie Baycats walk-off win, Thursday night’s rematch would be tough to one-up the previous matchup.

Well, it did just that.

The Barrie Baycats, for the second time already this season, defeated the Welland Jackfish in extra innings, by a final score of 11-10. Yes, you read the score correctly.

This version of the heated rivalry featured an abundance of offence combined with poor defence played by both teams.

The Jackfish got out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, after putting together two hits and some good baserunning to grab the early advantage.

As they have so many times already this season, Barrie would respond immediately.

After Ryan Rijo and Francisco Hernandez led off the inning with singles, Nolan Machibroda continued his power surge this season, as he smoked a 3-run opposite field home run over the left field wall to give Barrie a 3-1 lead. The home run was already Machibroda’s 3rd of the season, moving him into a three-way tie to lead the CBL.

Barrie would tack on one more in the third, courtesy of a Canice Ejoh double, followed up by a Noel McGarry Doyle RBI single to make it a 4-1 ballgame.

Barrie would add two more in the fourth, scoring for the third consecutive inning, as after singles from Machibroda, Ciprian, and Brandon Hernandez set the table for Canice Ejoh, who would deliver with a two-run single to push the Baycats' lead to 6-1 after 4.

Welland did not go quietly into the night, however, and the Baycats' lead would soon be short-lived.

Welland would produce 2 runs from the bottom of their order in the bottom of the 5th inning to cut into the Barrie lead at 6-3.

Unfortunately, the Baycats kicked the ball around in the 6th to start a Welland rally, after a dropped third strike allowed Welland catcher Robert Mullen to reach to begin the inning, followed by what would’ve been a double play ball sneaking under shortstop Brandon Hernandez’s glove. Welland fed off the defensive miscues from Barrie, as they scored the first four batters who stepped up to the plate in what ended up being a bat-around inning to give Welland a 7-6 lead after six. 

But, as they’ve done not only in this game, but all season long, Barrie would punch back. Edgar Figueroa punished a hanging curveball deep into right field, leading off the seventh inning with a solo home run to tie the game back up at seven.

Welland scored two runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame, as a clutch two-out, two-run single by Gianfranco Morello gave the Jackfish the lead back at 9-7.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Baycats would retaliate right away.

With two outs and Wandy Ciprian on third base, and Welland’s top reliever Pedro De Los Santos on the mound, Canice Ejoh demolished a two-run homer deep to left field, tying the game up once again for Barrie, this time at nine.

After both teams failed to score in the ninth inning, these two teams would need extra innings for their second consecutive matchup. 

With the ghost runner placed on second base, it was Barrie’s power that had shone all game, coming through once more in the tenth.

After Welland reliever Deivy Mendez struck out the first two batters he faced, it would be up to Wandy Ciprian to come through once again.

It looked as though Cipiran had popped one up down the left field line to end the inning. However, Jackfish left fielder Daiki Abe dropped the ball in foul territory, giving Ciprian one more life. 

And would he ever take advantage, sending the Baycats fourth homer of the game into deep Left field, giving the Baycats an 11-9 lead, their first since leading 6-1.

Carlos Sano, who worked a scoreless ninth inning as well, would shut the door from there, allowing the ghost runner to come around to score but nothing more, securing a wild 11-10 win for the Baycats, defeating Welland for the second time this season.

Sano picked up his third win in six games for Barrie and has yet to give up an earned run in four innings of work.

Saul Vasquez was not as dominant as his last time out against London, trying to navigate through a tough Welland lineup. 

He’d go 5 ½, allowing 7 runs on nine hits while walking two. He did, however, still rack up seven strikeouts in the outing.

The Baycats have now scored 24(!) runs in their last two games, while outhomering their opponent 9-1 in that span.

The Win for Barrie is their fourth consecutive, improving their record to 2-1 on the road, and 5-1 overall to continue to lead the CBL.

The Jackfish dropped to 3-2 on the season, with both of their losses coming at the hands of the Barrie Baycats.

Barrie wraps up their busy week with a home matchup on Saturday, taking on the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers for the first time this season.

Lefty Juan Mejia will make his second start of the season, with the first pitch set for 4:08 p.m. EST from Athletic Kulture Stadium.

You can get your tickets for that game here.