Majors Demolish Baycats, Climb Into First-Place Tie

Written by: Evan Frederiksen / Photo by Matt Hiscox

The London Majors got continued dominance from their offence, combined with great pitching and excellent defence, to defeat the Barrie Baycats 13-4 Saturday evening at Athletic Kulture Stadium.

The Majors have made it a constant habit of making starting pitchers work in the first inning, and that's exactly how this game started. Baycats ace Frank Garces gave up three earned runs in the first inning, as Trent Lenihan, Starling Joseph and Tucker Zdunich all drove in a run to give the Majors an early 3-0 lead.

Travis Keys got that start for the Majors and continued what he’s done all season, going deep into games as he pitched six spectacular innings while giving up just two earned runs on six hits and striking out two. Keys continued to show confidence in both his fastball and off-speed pitches, as they proved effective against both right-handed and left-handed Baycats hitters. Kade Douglas, Dustin Davidson and Miguel Cirino each pitched an inning in relief of Keys. 

The story was much different for the Baycats, as they were forced to turn to their bullpen early. Frank Garces was ejected before the top of the second inning began following an equipment inspection by an umpire. 

The Majors were unable to get anything going offensively in the top of the second or third, but absolutely hammered the Baycats' bullpen in the top of the fourth, scoring 8 runs. Six different Majors had exceptional at-bats to contribute, as Starling Joseph, David Drayyers, Maikol Escotto and Jaden Babuik all drove in a run. Christian Inoa and Tucker Zdunich also each had two run-doubles to give the Majors a commanding 10-2 lead in the fourth inning.

The Majors then capped off their fifteen-hit masterclass with two more runs in the top of the sixth, driven in by Tucker Zdunich and Jaden Babuik to extend the Majors' blowout lead to 13-2. Francisco Hernandez, Wandy Ciprian and Clayton Keyes all drove in a run for the Baycats.

The Majors' offence continues to be firing on all cylinders, as they have now scored six or more runs in eight of their last nine games. Roop Chanderdat’s club has now won four straight, improving to 12-4 on the season. They are also 6-3 on the road and now sit in a tie for the number one seed in the CBL. The Majors will now finish a stretch of three games in three days on Sunday as they will host the Brantford Red Sox at Labatt Memorial Park at 4:05 on Father's Day.