Josh Niles walks off Barnstormers

Written by Dan Haugh/Photo by Matt Hiscox

Josh Niles went three-for-five at the plate, including a dramatic walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the London Majors to an 8–7 win over the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers on Sunday afternoon at Labatt Memorial Park. The come-from-behind win ended a three-game losing streak for London.

The Barnstormers took the lead with a single run in the top of the first inning off London starter Victor Payano and entered the eighth inning trailing 6–1, until they scraped together a six-run rally to tie the score at 7–7. The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth, when the Majors got consecutive two-out singles from Kaiden Cardoso and Eduardo De Oleo. With a 0–2 count, newcomer Josh Niles slapped a single through the left side of the infield, driving home Cardoso with the winning run.

London starter Victor Payano was solid into the eighth inning, when he ran into five straight Chatham-Kent hits. At that point, Skylar Janisse entered the game to try to halt the Barnstormers' rally. It wasn’t an easy task, but Janisse managed to work through the next few hitters, and the rally ended when All-Star catcher Eduardo De Oleo threw out Spencer Morin attempting to steal second for the third out of the inning.

Janisse picked up his second win of the season by shutting down the Barnstormers after they put the first two batters on base in the top of the ninth. As he so often does, Janisse found a way to end the threat and set the stage for Niles’ walk-off RBI single. Twelve of London’s fifteen hits came from the top four hitters in the batting order, resulting in all of London’s runs being scored in the odd-numbered innings: two in the first, two in the third, one in the fifth, two in the seventh, and the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

The long ball had been absent during London’s recent three-game skid, but it returned on a windy Sunday afternoon. Francisco Fajardo launched a home run to deep right field in the fifth inning. Fajardo went two-for-four in the game. Eduardo De Oleo, who went four-for-five with two RBI, hit his third home run of the 2025 season way out over the left-field fence—possibly into the Thames River—in the seventh inning.

Josh Niles finished three-for-five at the dish with three RBI, including his game-winner. Kaiden Cardoso and Brad Verhoeven had two hits each, while Champ Garner and Toby Simmons each added a double to round out London’s 15-hit total for the nine-inning contest.

After their three-game weekend, the London Majors sit alone in second place in the Intercounty Baseball League standings with a 6–3 record, 1.5 games behind the undefeated Welland Jackfish, who are 6–0. The Majors' next action is Friday, June 6 at Labatt Memorial Park, when they host the defending IBL champion Barrie Baycats. First pitch is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.