Majors Top Baycats in Battle of Top Pitchers

MIDHURST - The comeback falls short.

The London Majors defeated the Barrie Baycats 5-3 on Saturday evening to improve to 19-6 on the season.

With the loss, the Baycats fall to 11-15.

London starter Pedro De Los Santos was terrific for the road team tonight, going 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs while striking out seven Barrie batters. Juan Benitez would go five innings for the Baycats, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out two batters. 

"He pitched well," said Barrie manager Josh Matlow postgame. "We just didn't really give him any support and he kind of fell behind and he was getting frustrated too...we just pulled him because we thought we don't want to waste his arm and wanted to get some guys qualified [for the playoffs]."

"He's been solid, he's our rock all year and we look forward to his next start." 

Matlow also spoke on the team's near-comeback in the late innings of the game. "We got behind early, we battled back and I'm proud of the boys, I'm proud of our pitchers, and there's a lot of positive that we can take from that. We want to be on the winning side of things, but like I said, you win some, you lose some." 

The Baycats offence would start in the fifth inning when Ryan Rijo lined a ball into the outfield for a double, scoring David LeBlanc.

"My first few at-bats, I noticed he was trying to go with his curveball a lot against me," Ryan Rijo said following his two-for-five performance. "My first at-bat, I thought I hit him pretty hard, then I went chasing on my second [time at-bat], and on my third at-bat when I hit the double, it was the curveball and he left one hanging and I just hit it off the fence there...I just thought I was seeing the ball well there and had some good swings on some good pitches to hit."

The other members of the Baycats offence scored twice in in the sixth inning; a Mike Cecchetto ground out to the first baseman and a Jake Wilson single to right field brought Barrie back within two runs.

However, the comeback fell just short as Eduardo Perez came in to close things out for the Majors; he would go 2 1/3 innings, allowing two while striking out two.

Juan Benitez fell to 4-2 on the season, while De Los Santos improved to 6-2 on the year.

BIGGEST PLAY OF THE GAME...

Ryan Rijo's RBI double kick-started the Baycats offense tonight. Although that would be the biggest play of the night, Rijo would be stranded on the bases.

BY THE NUMBERS...

12. Twelve baserunners were left on by the Baycats throughout the game tonight. 

3. Another terrific performance by Jake MacDonald at the plate, he would go three for five on the night. 

8. Eight strikeouts between the three Baycats pitchers tonight. Benitez collected two, while Hillier would add one before a terrific two innings were pitched by Chris Cox in the eighth and ninth innings; Cox struck out four. 

NEXT UP... 

The Baycats conclude their home and home series with the London Majors on Sunday evening at Labatt Park. The first pitch is set for 7:35 PM EST.

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Photo: Bob Hurley/Bob Hurley Photography