Baycats four-game win streak snapped; fall 3-2 to Chatham Kent Barnstormers.

Barrie, ON – The Barrie Baycats' offence struggled most of Saturday afternoon, and despite making a bid for yet another come-from-behind victory, the Baycats came up one run short, falling 3-2 to the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers.

The Barnstormers struck early in the first inning and led the entire duration of the game, while timely pitching and elite defence helped them withstand Barrie's eighth-inning rally.

Chatham-Kent opened the scoring in the top of the first. After Evan Morrison was hit by a pitch and Kian Johnson reached on an error, Morrison came home on a Greyson Barrett groundout. Moments later, Mitsuki Fukuda doubled to right field, scoring Johnson and extending the lead to 2-0.

Those two runs were all the support Barnstormers starter Yuri Yokoyama needed for much of the night. The right-hander kept Barrie's offence in check through five scoreless innings after Barrie had exploded for eleven runs in Welland less than 48 hours prior to this game, allowing only a handful of baserunners while repeatedly escaping trouble.

On the other side, Juan Mejia bounced back impressively after the difficult opening frame. The Baycats starter settled in and delivered seven very strong innings, striking out eight while allowing just the two first-inning runs, with only one being earned.

Barrie’s biggest threat offensively came in the seventh when Ryan Rijo singled and Nolan Machibroda doubled to put runners in scoring position with two outs. However, Chatham-Kent escaped the jam to preserve its two-run advantage.

The Barnstormers added an insurance run in the eighth, which would prove to end up being crucial. Evan Morrison singled and eventually scored when Greyson Barrett lined an RBI single to left field, extending the lead to 3-0.

The Baycats finally broke through in the bottom half of the inning. Kristyan Puyol-Genossar started the rally with a double to center before Canice Ejoh crushed a two-run home run to left field, bringing life to a packed crowd at Athletic Kulture Stadium and cutting the deficit to 3-2, bringing Barrie back within striking distance.

Barrie had one final opportunity in the ninth. Francisco Hernandez singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch, putting the tying run in scoring position with nobody out. But Chatham-Kent closer Konsta Kurikka struck out Nolan Machibroda and Adam Odd before inducing a game-ending groundout from Puyol-Genossar.

Ejoh provided the only offensive highlight for Barrie, while finishing with two hits overall and both RBIs on his eighth-inning homer. Rijo also collected a pair of hits in the loss, his second consecutive multi-hit game.

Mejia turned in another quality performance on the mound, but the Baycats were just unable to get the big hit like they had been getting so often early this season.

Each team had a player ejected in this one, as Clayton Keyes was ejected for Barrie after a tag play and verbal exchange with Chatham-Kent first baseman Owen Constantineau.

Chatham-Kent lost their centre fielder, Austin Gurney, later in the game, after he was kicked out for arguing a bang-bang play at first base. 

Yuri Yokoyama was credited with the win for the Barnstormers, with Konsta Kurikka picking up the save, while Juan Mejia was charged with his first loss of the year for the Baycats.

With the loss, Barrie’s four-game winning streak overall was snapped, as well as their undefeated home-schedule record coming to an end, as they fell to 3-1 at home, and 5-2 overall. Chatham-Kent snapped their own three-game losing streak with the win, improving to 2-3 on the young season.

Barrie’s next crack at getting back in the win column will be right back at it against the Barnstormers. 

The game will once again take place at Athletic Kulture Stadium on Thursday, June 4th, with first pitch taking place at 7:30 p.m. EST. 

Photo Courtesy of: Aislynn Kell