BAYCATS CLOSE OUT SERIES WITH AN 11-9 WIN IN HAMILTON

HAMILTON – This entertaining series between the Hamilton Cardinals and the Barrie Baycats has ended following an 11-9 Baycats victory tonight in Hamilton. Both of these teams battled till the very end, but the veteran Brad Grieveson shut the door, helping Barrie advance to the second round.

For a game as exciting as this one was, there could have been two turning points. But with the Baycats coming out on top, it is hard to vote against their seven-run seventh inning, which answered Hamilton’s seven-run sixth inning. With just nine outs to work with in the game, Barrie played station to station. Carson Burns tied it with a two-run single. After that, three straight run-scoring at-bats including a wild pitch made it 11-7 Baycats.

As mentioned, the Cardinals did not make things easy. Laine Renaud and Luis Bernardo both hit home runs as part of a sixth inning that gave them seven runs. That home run for Renaud was his second of the series. The Baycats, needing something to quiet down the Cardinals, called on Brad Grieveson, and he delivered, tossing three and two-thirds and picking up the win.

Evan Soules, who started the game for Barrie, pitched very well over his first five innings of work. Soules ended up with a no-decision after tossing five and a third innings. Corben Peters started for Hamilton but unfortunately had to come out of this game with an arm injury after throwing just two innings. Rashil Bhat was charged with the loss in his inning of work.

In total, there were 33 hits combined, 18 for Barrie and 15 for Hamilton. Second baseman Royce Ando had four of them including an RBI and three runs scored. Ando also made a spectacular jumping catch in the eighth inning. Baycats center fielder Canice Ejoh and Cardinals left fielder Conner Bowie both made diving catches and the funny thing is, they were victims of each other's catches with Bowie robbing Ejoh and Ejoh robbing Bowie.

With no clear second-round schedule or opponent just yet, the Barrie Baycats will have some time to rest up for another big series up ahead. Stay tuned to BarrieBaycats.com and the Baycats social media pages for scheduling updates.