Baycats Edge Majors 8-6 to Take 2-0 Series Lead

London, ON – Add-on runs are very important.

That statement, while very obvious, was particularly evident tonight at Labatt Park. The Barrie Baycats came away with an 8-6 win to take a 2-0 series lead over the London Majors. Like in game one, it took a while for both teams to get going on offence, but once they did, things got interesting.

Again, similar to the first game of the series, both starters came out hot. Cesar Rosado had another solid start for Barrie, going seven innings and striking out 11 batters while giving up three earned runs. Rosado was credited with his second win of the playoffs.

Victor Payano, who was on fire in his first two playoff starts, ran into trouble in the fourth. With two outs in the inning, Payano had to face Nolan Machibroda. A lefty-lefty matchup that favoured the London starter. However, his 0-1 offering to Machibroda was left over the plate, and Nolan smashed it over the right-centre field wall, opening the scoring.

The Baycats tacked on two more runs in the inning and led 3-0. One inning later, the momentum – which seemed to be switching all night – was in Barrie’s hands, and with the bases loaded and two outs, the Cats were one hit away from breaking the game open.

For that, they turned to Adam Odd, who just a few months ago did just that in London on June 7th. History repeated itself, and on the very first pitch, Odd sliced one into the left-field corner, clearing the bases and making it 6-0.

The Majors’ offence, led by first baseman Kaiden Cardoso, stormed back with three runs over the next few innings. It was a pair of RBI knocks from Cardoso off Rosado that narrowed the Baycats' lead.

Barrie added a pair of add-on runs in the final two innings. Ryan Rijo’s moonshot in the ninth made it an 8-3 ballgame. Carlos Sano came in to pitch the bottom half. Despite a few mishaps in the field, Sano closed out the game, securing his team a 2-0 series lead heading back home.

Baycats win 8-6.