London Majors Walk Off Cardinals in Extras on Father’s Day

Written by Dan Haugh / Photo by Isaiah Bergsma

A large crowd packed Labatt Memorial Park on Father’s Day for the 14th Annual Pack the Park event and was treated to bonus baseball, as the London Majors walked off the Hamilton Cardinals in the 11th inning for a thrilling 6–5 victory.

Trailing 5–3 heading into the bottom of the 10th inning, the Majors battled back to tie the game. Back-to-back sacrifice flies from Byron Reichstein and Josh Niles brought home Tucker Zdunich and Eduardo De Oleo, respectively, to force extra innings. 

The drama continued into the bottom of the 11th, when Champ Garner scored the winning run after Hamilton first baseman Russell Young was unable to handle a ground ball off the bat of Ken Sugi.

Victor Payano got the start for London and delivered a strong performance, tossing seven innings and allowing just three runs on seven hits while striking out 10 Cardinals. Ryan Beitel followed with two scoreless innings in relief before Skylar Janisse took over for the 10th and 11th. Despite giving up two runs in the 10th, Janisse shut the door in the 11th and earned his third win of the 2025 season, which is tied for the league lead.

Chris Boatto took the loss for Hamilton, surrendering the unearned run in the bottom of the 11th.

London’s six runs came on nine hits, with the offence once again powered by the top of the lineup. Seven of the nine hits came from the first four batters, and all nine came from the top six. Francisco Fajardo, Tucker Zdunich, and Eduardo De Oleo each recorded two hits, while leadoff hitter Toby Simmons, along with Byron Reichstein and Josh Niles, added one apiece.

The Majors have now won four straight and sit at 10–4 on the season, solidly in second place in the IBL standings, just two games behind the first-place Welland Jackfish and 2.5 games ahead of the third-place Chatham-Kent Barnstormers. London travels to Chatham on Tuesday night to take on the Barnstormers at Fergie Jenkins Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.