A Canada Day Walk off gives the Majors 1st Place

Written by Dan Haugh / Photo by Matt Hiscox

Nine innings of baseball were not enough to decide first place in the Canadian Baseball League standings on Canada Day at Labatt Memorial Park. What it took was Starling Joseph driving a single into left field and bringing home Cristian Inoa with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat the Barrie Baycats by a score of 5-4. 

The pitching on both sides was strong throughout. A four-run rally in the bottom of the second inning was all the scoring London could come up with until Joseph's walk-off single. Victor Payano started on the mound for the Majors.  He allowed all four Barrie runs in his six innings, but he struck out 11 Baycats, keeping his team in the game.  Miguel Cirino came on in relief of Payano with two scoreless innings that saw him strike out two batters.

The pitching hero for London was Zachary Laird, who pitched two gritty innings, setting down Barrie in order in both the ninth and tenth innings with a total of four strikeouts.  Laird picked up the win.  Carlos Sano was the losing pitcher. The Majors scored their five runs on seven hits. 

Left fielder Adam Thuss had three RBI with his second-inning home run that scored Eduardo De Oleo and Jarrett Burney. De Oleo had a single and a double. Starling Joseph had two singles, with the big one being the walk-off game winner. Jarrett Burney and Tucker Zdunich had one hit each. 

With this Canada Day victory, the London Majors claim first place in the CBL standings with a record of 15-7.  They are now one full game ahead of the Barrie Baycats, who are in a second-place tie with the Welland Jackfish. The Majors will be back in action Friday night when the Chatham-Barnstormers visit Labatt Memorial Park for a 7:05 start.