Majors Improve to 4-0 with 6-3 Victory Over Baycats

Barrie, ON – The London Majors, 3-0 coming into Saturday’s game, improved to 4-0 with a 6-3 win over the Barrie Baycats. While Barrie’s 0-3 start may seem a little frustrating, they have faced tough competition — and Saturday was no different. London got production not only from their stars but also from some new players.

Last year’s IBL All-Star Game starter for the South Team, Travis Keys, went six innings, giving up just two unearned runs — both coming in the first inning. The London native struck out six Baycats and stranded seven runners en route to his first win of 2025. The Barrie runs, scored by Brandon Hernandez and Nolan Machibroda, came off a throwing error and a passed ball.

Keys’ counterpart, Frank Garcés, pitched fairly well. His first start of the 2025 season — surprisingly a loss (1) — came down to two key pitches: one with the bases loaded and one to last year’s IBL Rookie of the Year. With two out in the second, 22-year-old Ken Sugi, making his IBL debut with the Majors, sliced a 3-2 offering from Garcés into the left-field corner, clearing the bases and putting the visitors ahead 3-2. Then, in the third, a leadoff opposite-field shot from Kaiden Cardoso made it 4-2.

Cardoso, like Machibroda, was released from the Ottawa Titans not long after training camp began in the nation’s capital. Garcés kept the London slugger quiet for the most part, but one pitch turned an 0-for-4 with three strikeouts into an “I hit a home run today off a former big leaguer and we won” kind of day.

Following Garcés was Juan Benítez, who had a strong bounce-back performance in his second outing. Benítez tossed two scoreless innings in relief, allowing no hits and needing just 13 pitches.

Machibroda recorded his first RBI of the season in the seventh off reliever Colby Ring, cutting the deficit to one. But run-scoring knocks from Byron Reichstein and Toby Simmons in the eighth and ninth innings respectively, made it 6-3 Majors.

Skylar Janisse notched his first save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Final Score: Majors 6, Baycats 3

NEXT UP: The Baycats are back in action this Thursday as they welcome the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers to Athletic Kulture Stadium. It is NIDO African Night – Pack the Park (FREE ENTRY). The first 200 fans will receive a free T-shirt.