Baycats Rally from 4-1 Deficit; Machibroda Wins It in the 10th

Barrie, ON – The total attendance from Saturday's Baycats walk-off win against the Kitchener Panthers wasn’t at the level of Thursday's Pack the Park, but if you only heard it, you would have thought there were more. Three huge outs from Braedan Pakkala in the top of the tenth – not the first time he’s done it this year – sent the crowd into a frenzy. That was just the appetizer, as Nolan Machibroda cued the celebration with a walk-off single over the centre fielder’s head.

Cesar Rosado used every bit of energy he had in him through his 105-pitch, six-inning start. Rosado gave up four runs (three earned) and was almost – and some would argue should have been – ejected after hitting a pair of Panthers hitters, the second coming after warnings were issued to both sides. The wild part? After all that, Kitchener shortstop Charlie Towers was the one who got tossed for arguing that Rosado should have been ejected.

Adam Odd’s first of two triples got the Baycats on the board in the bottom of the third, scoring Andrew Johnston. The Panthers responded with one in the fourth, two in the fifth, and another in the sixth to take a 4-1 lead.

Chris Nagorski’s second stint with the Baycats began with a scoreless seventh inning. He was followed by Adam Khan, who pitched two innings and gave up one run on three hits. Khan was on the hook for the loss – but after Adam Odd’s second triple of the game with one out in the ninth, Noel McGarry-Doyle’s sacrifice fly brought him in to tie the game.

Pakkala’s two strikeouts in the tenth set up a ground ball to Odd at second, and with a throw to first, the Baycats' lefty reliever popped off the mound, fired up. He eventually picked up the win – his first of his IBL career – when Machibroda sent one over Runta Osawa’s head, scoring Francisco Hernandez to end the ballgame.

FINAL SCORE: Baycats 6, Panthers 5.

NEXT UP: After Sunday’s All-Star festivities in Hamilton, the Baycats head to Guelph on Tuesday to face the Royals at 7:30 p.m.