Majors win on Canada Day

Written by Dan Haugh/Photo by Matt Hiscox

The London Majors once again used a winning combination of offence and pitching to defeat the Barrie Baycats by a score of 8-3 on Canada Day at Labatt Park in front of a crowd of 4,834 fans who showed up at the park for baseball and fireworks and they all went home happy.

Both teams scored a single run in the first inning. London ́ś run came when Drew Lawrence led off the inning with a walk and eventually scored on a single by Kaiden Cardoso. Lawrence was the offensive star of the game going 3-for-4 with one RBI which came in London ́s four-run fourth-inning rally that put them back in the lead at 5-3 after the Baycats had gone ahead 3-2 with two runs of their own in the top of the third inning. Besides Lawerence ́s three hits, Kaiden Cardos who continues to swing a hot bat had a single and a double and three RBI. Starling Joseph and Eduardo De Oleo had two hits each, while Byron Reichstein, Victor Plaz and Gibson Krzeminski had one hit each to bring the London hit total to 12.

London Field Manager Roop Chanderdat said this about Major ́s starting pitcher Travis Keys who earned the win.  ̈A lot of credit has to go to Keys who battled tonight after a shaky start. He was a bulldog for us, and then Christian Coombes gave us two solid innings.  Keys allowed one earned run on seven hits while striking out nine Baycats hitters. Braeden Ferrington finished up the ninth inning in relief of Keys and Coombes.

With tonight ́s win London ́s record improved to 13-6 putting them in sole possession of second place in IBL standings, 1 1⁄2 games ahead of Barrie and two games behind first-place Welland Jackfish whose nine-game winning streak ended tonight with a 4-3 loss to the Hamilton Cardinals. The next action for the London Majors will be on Friday, July 6th when the Brantford Red Sox will visit Labatt Park.