Baycats Rally Late, Win Second Straight Pre-Season Game

Barrie, ON - The Barrie Baycats rallied late Thursday afternoon to steal a second straight pre-season win, defeating the Guelph Royals by a final score of 5-3.

For the second straight contest, it was a school day game, featuring in-game activations for hundreds of students to get them excited about the game of baseball. 

Barrie sent newcomer Juan Mejia to the mound - a former member of the Texas Rangers organization - for his first start of the spring, getting a first glance at what he can bring to the table for the upcoming season.

After Mejia pitched a strong opening frame, which included a pair of backwards K’s, the Baycats’ offence wasted no time getting on the scoreboard.

On the very first pitch of the bottom of the first inning, Barrie centrefielder Canice Ejoh crushed a solo home run to deep left centre field, giving the Baycats an early 1-0 lead.

Guelph responded in the top of the second, however, scoring three runs after stringing five hits together, in what would end up being their lone scoring inning of the entire game.

While Barrie waited for their bats to get going, Breidy Encarnacion took care of business on the mound. In a dominant two shutout innings, the hard-throwing Encarnacion punched out five batters, three of whom were caught looking. 

Facing their first deficit of the pre-season, the Baycats would steal (literally) a run back in the bottom of the fourth inning. Headlined by a double steal, Clayton Keyes took off for second base to draw a throw from Guelph Catcher Matthew Ward, allowing Edgar Figueroa to sprint home, putting a second run on the scoreboard for Barrie. 

After a quiet 5th inning for both ballclubs, the Baycats entered the bottom of the 6th inning still trailing the Royals by just a run. That would soon change. Patience proved key for the Baycats, drawing three walks in the inning, as well as infielder Brendon Daley being hit by a pitch to produce a run. The late-game rally was capped off with RBI singles courtesy of infielder Noah Hull and outfielder Noel McGarry Doyle. 

The three-run frame for the Baycats would prove to be enough, as pitcher Brad Grieveson - who was already coming off a scoreless sixth inning of work - locked down the save opportunity, securing a second straight pre-season win for the Baycats in comeback fashion. 

Barrie allowed three runs on eight hits with no errors, while scoring five runs on 6 hits with Guelph committing one error. 

The Baycats' final pre-season contest will take place this Saturday, May 9th, with first pitch set for 4:00 PM EST. Admission to the public is FREE, so we encourage you to bring your friends and family to support the Baycats before they set their goals on the regular season.