Baycats Edge Maple Leafs 4-3 in Nail-Biter, take a 2-0 series lead

Toronto, ON – To win a championship, you need to win on the road. Sometimes, if not always during the playoffs, those wins must come in hostile environments. The Barrie Baycats' 4-3 win Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs was one of those scenarios.

It was clear, right from the beginning, that runs were going to come at a premium. Cesar Rosado, the league leader in strikeouts during the regular season, was the starter for Barrie. Toronto countered with Wilgenis Alvarado, who was phenomenal in his last outing against the Baycats on August 7th.

Rosado and Alvarado went back and forth, tossing big pitch after big pitch. Toronto’s southpaw struck out 12, while Barrie’s All-Star hurler punched out 11.

The difference in the game was what Baycats manager Josh Matlow looked for his team to accomplish: get on the board early. With a runner on third and one out in the top of the first, Malik Williams cashed in Canice Ejoh (1-0) to fulfill Matlow’s wishes.

Ejoh’s run scored, which came after his leadoff double on the second pitch of the game, would not be the highlight of his night. That came the very next inning with two runners on and the ever-so-dangerous Johnathan Solazzo at the plate. Solazzo smoked a Rosado breaking ball to dead centre which may have had the distance to clear the fence and give Toronto a 3-1 lead, but Ejoh leaped up and came down with an outstanding catch, showing plenty of emotion – for good reason – after the play.

Both teams traded runs in the fifth and sixth to make the score 2-1 Barrie. The score stayed until the eighth inning as each side stranded big opportunities to break through at the plate. Knowing where they were playing, the score of the game, and the magnitude of it, Barrie had to dig deep to find some insurance.

That insurance now had to come against one of the best relief pitchers in recent Intercounty Baseball League history, Dustin Richardson. The Cats had a pair of runners on in the eighth with Hayden Jaco – who had faced Richardson previously in his time with the London Majors – at the plate.

The count quickly got to 0-2, but Jaco battled, fighting off a couple of tough fastballs from the former Boston Red Sox lefty. Finally, with a 1-2 count, the British Columbia native ripped a liner down the line… FAIR into the right field corner, bringing in Brandon Hernandez and Malik Williams, and increasing the Barrie lead to 4-1.

Carlos Sano, after working a scoreless eighth, ran into some trouble in the ninth, allowing a two-run moonshot to Justin Marra, but got Marcus Knecht to strike out to end the ballgame.

Baycats win 4-3.