Majors win pitchers duel on Friday Night

Written by Dan Haugh / Photo by Matt Hiscox

London Majors starting pitcher Travis Keys and three relief pitchers shut down the Kitchener Panthers' offence on their way to their 15th win of the 2025 season by way of a 1-0 win on Friday night at Labatt Memorial Park.

London Majors Field Manager Roop Chanderdat had this praise for the excellent pitching performances his team received,  ̈We got great pitching performances with Travis Keys starting and the perfect work out of the bullpen with Ryan Beitel, Jose Arias, and finally Skyar Janisse to close out the game. It was a classic pitching battle. You have to give credit to Kitchener starter Andy Vargas, who competed for eight innings. ̈

Travis Keys went six scoreless innings, allowing only three Panthers base hits while recording five Ks. When Keys left the game and handed the ball to Ryan Beitel, the game was still scoreless. Beitel picked up his first win of the season on the strength of a perfect seventh inning of relief. Jose Arias followed with a perfect eighth inning, and Skylat Janisse earned his sixth save of the 2025 season, closing out the ninth inning.

The Major's offence consisted of five hits from five different players. Brad Verhoeven and Champ Garner both contributed a double to that total. Francisco Fajardo, Josh Niles and Tucker Zdunich each had a single. London scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Roop Chanderdat explained how they manufactured that winning run,  ̈We got a timely hit from Tucker Zdunich to give us a base runner. That was followed by a perfectly executed hit-and-run by Josh Niles, and then we got the clutch RBI double by Champ Garner. ̈

The Majors got great defence to support the quality pitching. The team committed no errors, and catcher Eduardo De Oleo threw out three Kitchener baserunners attempting to steal. Manager Chanderdat said, "Our team defence was very good, and we executed when we had to." 

The London Majors are locked in a second-place tie with the Chatham-Kent Barmstormers in the IBL standings. London and Chatham-Kent have identical 15-10 records. They trail the first-place Welland Jackfish by four games.

The London Majors go on the road to Guelph on Saturday to meet the Royals in a 7:35 start, and then to Toronto on Sunday afternoon to face the Toronto Maple Leafs. First pitch at Christie Pits is scheduled for 2 P.M.