’Fish flounder at home in Game 2
Baycats show why the franchise has five straight IBL championships
The Welland Jackfish will be in Barrie on Tuesday night for Game 3 of the Intercounty Baseball League semifinals looking to put a forgettable effort in Game 2 behind them.
Short-term amnesia might be helpful in this case, but the Jackfish would also be well served by remembering they have the ability to go toe-to-toe with the fivetime defending playoff champs.
In Game 2 Sunday night, the first five Barrie Baycat batters reached base, and it didn’t get much better from there. The burly Baycats eventually collected 16 hits in an 11-0 filleting of the Jackfish, who only managed four hits.
That punchless effort was in direct contrast to Game 1 on Saturday afternoon in Barrie. There, the Jackfish gave the Baycats all they could handle before falling 3-2 when second baseman Starlin Rodriquez drove in the winning run in the bottom of ninth.
“We had them on the ropes in the first game Saturday and let them off. Tonight, they came in here and kicked our butt,” Welland manager Brian Essery said after the game. “We were terrible, but we know we can compete with them.
“Hall-of-Fame hitters fail seven out of 10 times. Dealing with failure is part of the game,” he added.
Game 3 is Tuesday at Coates Stadium in Barrie. Game 4 is Thursday at Welland Stadium, where the first pitch is set for 7:30 p.m.
Barrie leads the best-of-seven semifinal 2-0.
The Baycats are in pursuit of their sixth straight IBL championship, and it showed Sunday night in Welland. Kyle DeGrace slammed a two-run home run for the visitors, who opened a 3-0 lead after two innings and then broke the game open in the fifth inning by scoring three runs on four hits.
Back-to-back doubles by Rodriguez and Ryan Sartaro were the big blows.
Barrie ended up tagging Jackfish starter Christian Young for six runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings of work as Young took the loss.
Spataro went 3-for-4 while Rodriguez drove in three runs with a double and a sacrifice fly. Jon Waltenbury collected two hits.
Shortstop Conner Morro went 3-for-5 for the Baycats.
Barrie starter Matthew St. Kitts dominated Welland over six shutout innings. He struck out three while allowing two hits and one walk.
Brendon Dadson had two of Welland’s four hits. Andrew Mercier and Reese O’Farrell had the others.
Tempers flared after the Jackfish recorded the final out of the fourth inning by using the hidden ball trick to trap Rodriguez off second base.
The didn’t sit well the Baycats, and the jawing eventually reached a crescendo drawing the teams out of their respective dugouts before cooler heads prevailed.
Barrie finished the regular season in first with a 26-11 record, clinching the pennant in a one-game playoff with the Kitchener Panthers.
Welland finished league play in fourth place, compiling a 19-17 record.
In the quarterfinals, the Baycats swept the eighth-seeded Brantford Red Sox 4-0, and the Jackfish needed five games to sideline the No. 5 seed London Majors.
Barrie went 4-1 in the head-tohead play with Welland during the regular season.
The other semifinal pitting
No. 2 seed Kitchener against the third-seeded Hamilton Cardinals is scheduled to get underway Tuesday at Bernie Arbour Memorial Stadium in Hamilton.
Sunday afternoon’s series opener at Jack Couch Park in Kitchener was called due to the rain in the bottom of the second inning.
Kitchener won the season series versus Hamilton 3-2.
The Baycats defeated the Panthers 4-2 in last year’s championship final.