Jackfish refuse to be reeled in

Vaughn Bryan sparks come-from-behind win with three-run homer as Welland takes 3-0 series lead

Never mind the fat lady singing, in baseball it ain’t over until the bus engine starts to rumble in the parking lot outside the stadium.

And for the Welland Jackfish, their trip home Friday night wasn’t as long as they thought it would be after they found themselves looking up from a 3-0 hole three innings into an Intercounty Baseball League playoff game against the London Majors.

Thanks to a four-run eighth inning sparked by Vaughn Bryan’s three-run home run and a two-run ninth, the Jackfish were able to board the bus celebrating a 6-3 victory in Game 3 in a bestof-seven quarter-final. Fourth-seeded Welland was in a position to complete a sweep of the openinground playoff with a defeat of No. 5 seed London Sunday afternoon, also on the road.

Game 5, if needed, is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Welland Stadium, with a sixth and seventh game, also only if needed, Wednesday at Labatt Park in London and back in Welland Thursday.

Wilson Soriano, 2-for-3; Brandon Nicholson and Brendon Dadson, 2-for-5; had multiple-hit games for the Jackfish who were outhit 10-9 and extended their winning streak to five games.

Nicholson led Welland with two runs, and Bryan went 1-for-4 at the plate but drove in three runs with a blast that cleared the left-field fence in the top of the eighth in the come-from-behind victory.

DeAndre Asbury-Heath, Bryce O’Farrell and Bryan each stole two bases for the fleet-footed Jackfish who led the eight-team league in stolen bases during the regular season with 120 in 36 games.

Welland starter Christian Young allowed three runs on three hits over seven innings for the victory. He also struck out six before Rich Corrente took over and kept pitched two innings of hitless ball for the win.

A franchise that played two seasons in Mississauga and eight

in Burlington before relocating to Welland is one win away from advancing past the opening round for the first time.

The deepest playoff run to date was 2015 when the then Burlington Bandits lost to London in seven games in the quarterfinals.

The Jackfish, 19-17, finished league play one game ahead of the Majors, 18-18, and won the season series with London three games to two.

Higher seeds also lived up to their billing in the other three opening-round series.

The five-time defending playoff champion Barrie Baycats, No. 1, visited the Brantford Red Sox, No. 8, Sunday night leading the series 2-0.

Also with the chance to take 3-0 leads were the No. 2 seed Kitchener Panthers, who were at the seventh-seeded Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, as well as the No. 3 seed Hamilton Cardinals, who were scheduled to visit the sixth-seeded Guelph Royals, also on Sunday.