Majors get important Friday night win

Written by Dan Haugh / Photo by Matt Hiscox 

The final regular season home game for the London Majors resembled a playoff cliff-hanger that went down to the final out before London squeaked out a 5-4 win over the visiting Chatham-Kent Barnstormers on Friday night at Labatt Memorial Park.

The Majors scored their five runs on a total of six hits and three Barnstormer errors, Tucker Zdunich led the offence with two hits including his fourth big fly of the season to lead off the second inning and he added a single in the sixth inning that plated Francisco Fajardo and Toby Simmons giving him a total of three RBI in the game. Francisco Fajardo chipped in with an RBI double and a run scored and his 20th stolen base of the 2025 season. Toby Simmons, Kyle Maves and Brad Verhoeven had one hit each.

On the mound for London it was a familiar story as Lefty Travis Keys turned in another solid performance over seven innings allowing only two earned runs on six hits while striking out five Chatham-Kent hitters and grabbing his fifth win of the season. Keys was followed by Jose Arias in the eighth inning and Skylar Janisse in the ninth to shut down the Barstormers who were threatening to tie or go ahead. For Janisse it was his 12th save of 2025 which tied a league record for saves in a single season. 

With the win over Chatham-Kent, London moves a half game ahead of the idle Barrie Baycats in second place. Barrie finishes their regular season with two home games. Saturday as they will host the Hamilton Cardinals, followed by the Majors going into Athletic Kultire Stadium on Sunday afternoon for a game that will no doubt have a huge impact on the IBL playoff matchups.