Jackfish headed to semifinals
Welland eliminates London in five games in Intercounty Baseball League playoffs
One might have assumed there was some anxiety in the Welland Jackfish dugout midway through Tuesday’s Intercounty Baseball League playoff game.
The players had let a five-run lead evaporate, and the London Majors had taken a 7-5 lead. Things didn’t look good in Game 5 of the quarter-final series at Welland Stadium.
The Majors had knocked starting pitcher Matt Clingersmith out of the game and London reliever Owen Boon was dominating. The hard-throwing right-hander had retired 10 of the 11 Jackfish batters he had faced, five by strikeout.
In the end, Welland rallied for an 11-7 series-clinching win that manager Brian Essery didn’t find the least bit surprising.
“We knew we would get to them eventually,” Essery said. “We had a couple of bad innings and were making some errors, but our bats are going well, and everybody has confidence in the bullpen. The bullpen put up zeros from the fifth inning on.
“It was nice to get the win at home. We wanted to win it in four games, but we were playing a really good team.”
The playoff series win was the first in franchise history for the team that began Intercounty play as the Mississauga Twins in 2009 before moving to Burlington and Welland this season.
Chris Boatto and Matt Corrente pitched four scoreless innings in relief for the Jackfish.
Boatto held London to three hits over two innings. Corrente then slammed the door over the final two innings including a onetwo-three ninth.
DeAndre Asbury-Heath led the Jackfish attack by going two-for-four with a home run and a bunt single that ignited Welland’s offence in the decisive sixth inning. The Jackfish sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs, turning a two-run deficit into a four-run lead.
Clingersmith started for Welland and ran into trouble in the third and fifth innings.
The tall right-hander had some bad luck on a couple of balls that were fair down the line by inches. He was also the victim of four uncharacteristic errors in the field behind him. Of the seven runs he allowed, only four were earned.
Ismael Pena and Josh Williams drove in two runs each to lead London. Williams and Miller were the only Majors with extra-base hits. Both slugged doubles.
Shortstop Wilson Soriano went three-for-four at the plate with a pair of runs scored and a running leaping catch in shallow left field to end the game. Andrew Mercier entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning and delivered a run-scoring single that sparked Welland’s rally.
The Jackfish now await their semifinal opponent.
Barrie and Hamilton swept Brantford and Guelph respectively.
Kitchener leads Toronto 2-1. As the fourthseed, the Jackfish will play either Barrie or Hamilton, depending on who wins between Kitchener and Toronto.
If Kitchener wins, the Jackfish will play Barrie. Should Toronto pull off the upset, Welland would face Hamilton.