Guelph Royals remain in fight for first in IBL
GUELPH – The Guelph Royals kept themselves firmly entrenched in the battle for top spot in the Intercounty Baseball League with a come-from-behind victory Saturday night at Hastings Stadium.
The Royals scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to edge the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in the feisty pitchers’ duel.
Guelph Royals 4 Toronto Maple Leafs 3
The win kept the Royals (26-11) in third place, two games behind the London Majors (29-10) and half a game behind the Welland Jackfish (27-11). With five games to play in the next eight days, the Royals have a game in hand on Welland and two on London. And of those five remaining games, only one is against a team with a winning record.
The Royals are assured of a top-four finish and home-field advantage in the best-of-five quarter-finals. They could finish in a tie for third with Toronto and the Royals and Leafs split their season series, each winning three times at home. The Leafs outscored the Royals 40-36 in the series.
In the eighth inning Saturday, Dalton Pompey tied the score when he deposited Toronto relief pitcher Dustin Richardson’s first offering of the inning well over the left-field fence, the monster homer being his third round-tripper of the season.
Conner Morro then worked a walk out of Richardson on nine pitches that included four consecutive fouls. Richardson’s first pitch to Reilly struck the slugger on his feet giving him a free pass to first and moving Morro to second.
The Leafs appeared as if they’d get out of the inning even with the locals after Malik Collymore struck out, Josh Garton flied out to the catcher and pinch hitter Kyle Kush hit a hard bouncer just to the right of second base. However, Dan Marra, who’d been moved to second base after Toronto’s at bats in the top of the inning, couldn’t field the ball properly and eventually went down in a heap. Morro, who’d gone to third after Kush’s bat made contact with the ball, raced for home with the winning run before time was called to end the play.
Marra suffered a shoulder injury on the play and came out of the game while the inning ended when Richardson fanned Ethan Hammond.
Toronto had gone ahead early with a run in the first inning after Royals’ hurler Claudio Custodio walked the first three batters he faced for the first time this season. The run came home as Marcus Knecht hit into a double play.
The Royals shot ahead in the second when Garton hit his seventh homer of the season, a two-run shot as Toronto starter Angel Castro had walked Collymore.
The Leafs pulled even in the third after Greg Carrington doubled and scored on a two-out single by Johnathan Solazzo.
Solazzo also hit a two-out single in the fifth and Knecht followed with another single to move Solazzo to second. He’d eventually score from there on a play ruled as a passed ball by Guelph catcher Brendan Keys that struck the facade at the top of the seating area and then bounced out of bounds despite the efforts of Keys. As Solzazzo was headed to third, he was awarded a free trip home and Knecht was moved to second. A lengthy delay for a discussion of the play didn’t change things.
Custodio picked up the win improve his record to 10-0 while Andrew Case took over on the mound in the ninth and retire the three batters he faced on seven pitches for his third save of the season. Custodio allowed three runs (two earned) off four hits and four walks, tying his season-high mark as he’d also walked four Leafs in games at Toronto’s Christie Pits June 5th and July 3rd. Custodio also struck out 11 of the 33 batters he faced in eight innings to raise the league’s single-season strikeout total to 181. Case also had a strikeout.
Toronto starter Castro allowed two earned runs off four hits and two walks in the six innings he worked. He had five strikeouts while reliever Richardson took the loss after giving up two runs, one earned, off one hit and two walks in two innings. He had three strikeouts.
Five players each had a hit for the Royals as Garton and Pompey hit their homers and Morro had a triple. Collymore and Keys each hit singles.
All of Toronto’s four hits figured in the scoring for the Leafs as Solazzo hit two singles, Carrington hit his double and Knecht hit his single.
Each team left six on base while the Royals committed two errors and the Leafs committed one.
The Royals’ schedule for the remainder of the season has them to play the seventh-place Hamilton Cardinals (10-27) at Hamilton’s Bernie Arbour Stadium Sunday at 2:05 p.m., the eighth-place Brantford Red Sox (2-34) at Brantford’s Arnold Anderson Stadium Wednesday at 8 p.m. in a makeup game of the one that couldn’t be held there last Sunday as the stadium was being used for a Baseball Ontario tournament, the Majors at London’s Labatt Park Friday at 7:35 p.m., Brantford at Hastings Stadium next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and the sixth-place Kitchener Panthers (14-23) at Kitchener’s Jack Couch Park next Sunday at 2 p.m.
One of those games will likely be a preview of Guelph’s quarter-final series.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Guelph Royals remain in fight for first in IBL
GUELPH – The Guelph Royals kept themselves firmly entrenched in the battle for top spot in the Intercounty Baseball League with a come-from-behind victory Saturday night at Hastings Stadium.
The Royals scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to edge the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in the feisty pitchers’ duel.
Guelph Royals 4
Toronto Maple Leafs 3
The win kept the Royals (26-11) in third place, two games behind the London Majors (29-10) and half a game behind the Welland Jackfish (27-11). With five games to play in the next eight days, the Royals have a game in hand on Welland and two on London. And of those five remaining games, only one is against a team with a winning record.
The Royals are assured of a top-four finish and home-field advantage in the best-of-five quarter-finals. They could finish in a tie for third with Toronto and the Royals and Leafs split their season series, each winning three times at home. The Leafs outscored the Royals 40-36 in the series.
In the eighth inning Saturday, Dalton Pompey tied the score when he deposited Toronto relief pitcher Dustin Richardson’s first offering of the inning well over the left-field fence, the monster homer being his third round-tripper of the season.
Conner Morro then worked a walk out of Richardson on nine pitches that included four consecutive fouls. Richardson’s first pitch to Reilly struck the slugger on his feet giving him a free pass to first and moving Morro to second.
The Leafs appeared as if they’d get out of the inning even with the locals after Malik Collymore struck out, Josh Garton flied out to the catcher and pinch hitter Kyle Kush hit a hard bouncer just to the right of second base. However, Dan Marra, who’d been moved to second base after Toronto’s at bats in the top of the inning, couldn’t field the ball properly and eventually went down in a heap. Morro, who’d gone to third after Kush’s bat made contact with the ball, raced for home with the winning run before time was called to end the play.
Marra suffered a shoulder injury on the play and came out of the game while the inning ended when Richardson fanned Ethan Hammond.
Toronto had gone ahead early with a run in the first inning after Royals’ hurler Claudio Custodio walked the first three batters he faced for the first time this season. The run came home as Marcus Knecht hit into a double play.
The Royals shot ahead in the second when Garton hit his seventh homer of the season, a two-run shot as Toronto starter Angel Castro had walked Collymore.
The Leafs pulled even in the third after Greg Carrington doubled and scored on a two-out single by Johnathan Solazzo.
Solazzo also hit a two-out single in the fifth and Knecht followed with another single to move Solazzo to second. He’d eventually score from there on a play ruled as a passed ball by Guelph catcher Brendan Keys that struck the facade at the top of the seating area and then bounced out of bounds despite the efforts of Keys. As Solzazzo was headed to third, he was awarded a free trip home and Knecht was moved to second. A lengthy delay for a discussion of the play didn’t change things.
Custodio picked up the win improve his record to 10-0 while Andrew Case took over on the mound in the ninth and retire the three batters he faced on seven pitches for his third save of the season. Custodio allowed three runs (two earned) off four hits and four walks, tying his season-high mark as he’d also walked four Leafs in games at Toronto’s Christie Pits June 5th and July 3rd. Custodio also struck out 11 of the 33 batters he faced in eight innings to raise the league’s single-season strikeout total to 181. Case also had a strikeout.
Toronto starter Castro allowed two earned runs off four hits and two walks in the six innings he worked. He had five strikeouts while reliever Richardson took the loss after giving up two runs, one earned, off one hit and two walks in two innings. He had three strikeouts.
Five players each had a hit for the Royals as Garton and Pompey hit their homers and Morro had a triple. Collymore and Keys each hit singles.
All of Toronto’s four hits figured in the scoring for the Leafs as Solazzo hit two singles, Carrington hit his double and Knecht hit his single.
Each team left six on base while the Royals committed two errors and the Leafs committed one.
The Royals’ schedule for the remainder of the season has them to play the seventh-place Hamilton Cardinals (10-27) at Hamilton’s Bernie Arbour Stadium Sunday at 2:05 p.m., the eighth-place Brantford Red Sox (2-34) at Brantford’s Arnold Anderson Stadium Wednesday at 8 p.m. in a makeup game of the one that couldn’t be held there last Sunday as the stadium was being used for a Baseball Ontario tournament, the Majors at London’s Labatt Park Friday at 7:35 p.m., Brantford at Hastings Stadium next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and the sixth-place Kitchener Panthers (14-23) at Kitchener’s Jack Couch Park next Sunday at 2 p.m.
One of those games will likely be a preview of Guelph’s quarter-final series.
- Guelph Sports Journal