Power-hitting Panthers may have to think small
KITCHENER — After a season for the ages, Kitchener Panthers slugger Sean Reilly knows he may have to think small, not big, to help his team win an Intercounty Baseball League championship.
The veteran designated hitter — who led the league in batting average (.447), home runs (19) and RBIs (56) — isn’t expecting to see a whole lot of hittable pitches from the Barrie Baycats’ tough pitching staff.
That means he’ll be looking for walks and opposite-field singles, instead of big blasts over the fence.
“I don’t see them giving me too much to hit,” said Reilly. “So I’ll have to change my approach, instead of trying to hit the ball 400 feet.
Maybe in some situations, that’s hitting a ball to the right side and trying to get a runner into scoring position.”
In the series opener Thursday night in Barrie, the reigning Triple Crown winner was held hitless in a game that went into extra innings.
The Baycats’ 4-3 win may be a preview of the kind of low-scoring, pitching-and-defence-first kind of series many are expecting.
In Game 1, it looked like Barrie’s starter, Emilis Guerrero, might pitch a complete game, when Kitchener third baseman Mike Gordner tied it the ninth with a two-run blast. The only other Kitchener run came in the fourth inning when Jeff MacLeod’s single scored Tanner Nivins from second.
Gordner’s homer sent things into extra innings, where the Baycats walked it off without getting a hit in the bottom on the tenth — capitalizing on two errors by the Panthers and a walk issued by Noelvis Entenza.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven championship series will be played at 7 p.m. Saturday night at Jack Couch Park in Kitchener.
While Reilly may lead the Panthers’ offence, he knows it’s not a one-man show. The team has power hitters up and down the lineup.
“There’s going to be days when I’m not swinging it well, and those guys in the past have picked me up,” he said. “But I don’t mind having a little bit of pressure on my back, it kind of motivates me.”
The championship features a Barrie club that started the season 26-0 to set a record for most wins to open a season, and set a record for the best winning percentage (.917) in league history. They are also very tough at home, going 18-0.
The Panthers, meanwhile, had their second-most winning season since 1993. Reilly also had what may be the best single-season performance the league has ever seen, becoming just the third player to win the IBL Triple Crown — and the only one to do it twice.
Reilly, 40, last won a league championship back in 2004 with the Guelph Royals. That feels like a long time ago, he admits. So this shot at another title means an awful lot. “This is huge. I’m in the last part of my career. I’m not going to say it’s do-or-die, because if I’m healthy I could still play for a few more years. But I’d like to get one in, sooner rather than later.”