Guelph Royals slip by Cardinals, now tied for second
HAMILTON – The Guelph Royals moved into a tie for second place in the Intercounty Baseball League Sunday as they made up their game in hand on the Welland Jackfish.
The Royals slipped by the Hamilton Cardinals at Hamilton’s Bernie Arbour Stadium to improve their record to 27-11, the same as the Jackfish. Guelph and Welland are two games behind the league-leading London Majors who are at 30-10.
Guelph Royals 5 Hamilton Cardinals 4
Guelph and Welland both have four games to play this week, the final week of the regular season, while London has two games to play. If London wins both of its games, the Majors secure a first-place finish.
While the Royals won the season series with the seventh-place Cardinals, they’ve had a surprisingly tough go of it in Hamilton. Guelph won the series 5-1, the loss being a 5-1 setback at Bernie Arbour Stadium July 31. They also won their season opener 6-4 there May 22. At Hastings Stadium, the Royals won 8-4 June 11, 12-4 June 25 and 18-7 July 19.
Guelph and Hamilton will meet in the best-of-five quarter-finals if the Royals finish second as the Cardinals (10-28) are all but locked into a seventh-place finish. One loss in their final four games will give Hamilton seventh and the Kitchener Panthers (14-24) sixth.
Sunday, the Royals scored a run in the seventh inning off veteran pitcher Stefan Strecker to claim the win. Strecker walked Sean Reilly, the first batter he faced, before Malik Collymore and Justin Interisano hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. Reilly scored on a sacrifice fly to centre field and the hosts got out of the jam by turning a double play.
Hamilton had led 3-1 at the end of the first inning before the Royals tied it with two runs in the second and went ahead with a run in the third. The Cardinals got that run back in the fifth while Guelph’s run in the seventh was the only other run of the game.
Jeifry Nunez started for the Royals and went four innings before Emilis Guerrero took over for four innings and then Andrew Case came in to toss the ninth and nail down his fourth save of the season and second in as many games.
Nunez allowed three runs, two earned, off three hits and four walks during his stint while Guerrero gave up a run off four hits and two walks during his time on the mound. Case issued a walk in the ninth. Nunez and Guerrero each had five strikeouts and Guerrero picked up the win to up his record to 7-3.
The Royals were limited to six hits, all by the first five in the order. Dalton Pompey had a double and a single while Collymore hit two singles and J.D. Williams and Interisano each hit one single.
Both teams stranded nine runners while Collymore swiped three bases to lift his seasonal total to 24.
The Royals committed three errors in the match, one each by third baseman Collymore, shortstop Kyle Kush and catcher Noah Roberts.
The Cardinals used five pitchers with none of them going longer than three innings. Starter Nick Davies had the longest outing as he limited the Royals to two hits in his three innings. However, he yielded four earned runs as he walked seven and he had two strikeouts.
Corben Peters pitched an inning while Jose Fernandez pitched two, Strecker pitched one and Daury Torrez pitched two. Strecker gave up an earned run off two hits and a walk to take the loss. Peters and Fernandez each yielded a hit while Fernandez also walked a batter. Torrez and Fernandez both had three strikeouts while Peters had two.
Hamilton had seven hits in the game as Tyler Duncan smacked two singles and Josh Niles and Jeremie Veilleux each hit a double. Getting one single apiece were Luis Jean, Laine Renaud and Ryan Burnside.
The win secured a top-three finish for the Royals, who’ve won five consecutive games and 12 of their last 14 and have four games to play this week. They’re to play the eighth-place Brantford Red Sox (2-35) at Brantford’s Arnold Anderson Stadium Wednesday at 8 p.m. and then start a three-in-three weekend Friday with a 7:35 p.m. game against the Majors at London’s Labatt Park. Saturday, the Royals are to play Brantford again at Hastings Stadium at 7:30 p.m. in their final home game of the regular season before finishing off the regular season with a game against the Panthers at Kitchener’s Jack Couch Park Sunday at 2 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Guelph Royals slip by Cardinals, now tied for second
HAMILTON – The Guelph Royals moved into a tie for second place in the Intercounty Baseball League Sunday as they made up their game in hand on the Welland Jackfish.
The Royals slipped by the Hamilton Cardinals at Hamilton’s Bernie Arbour Stadium to improve their record to 27-11, the same as the Jackfish. Guelph and Welland are two games behind the league-leading London Majors who are at 30-10.
Guelph Royals 5
Hamilton Cardinals 4
Guelph and Welland both have four games to play this week, the final week of the regular season, while London has two games to play. If London wins both of its games, the Majors secure a first-place finish.
While the Royals won the season series with the seventh-place Cardinals, they’ve had a surprisingly tough go of it in Hamilton. Guelph won the series 5-1, the loss being a 5-1 setback at Bernie Arbour Stadium July 31. They also won their season opener 6-4 there May 22. At Hastings Stadium, the Royals won 8-4 June 11, 12-4 June 25 and 18-7 July 19.
Guelph and Hamilton will meet in the best-of-five quarter-finals if the Royals finish second as the Cardinals (10-28) are all but locked into a seventh-place finish. One loss in their final four games will give Hamilton seventh and the Kitchener Panthers (14-24) sixth.
Sunday, the Royals scored a run in the seventh inning off veteran pitcher Stefan Strecker to claim the win. Strecker walked Sean Reilly, the first batter he faced, before Malik Collymore and Justin Interisano hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. Reilly scored on a sacrifice fly to centre field and the hosts got out of the jam by turning a double play.
Hamilton had led 3-1 at the end of the first inning before the Royals tied it with two runs in the second and went ahead with a run in the third. The Cardinals got that run back in the fifth while Guelph’s run in the seventh was the only other run of the game.
Jeifry Nunez started for the Royals and went four innings before Emilis Guerrero took over for four innings and then Andrew Case came in to toss the ninth and nail down his fourth save of the season and second in as many games.
Nunez allowed three runs, two earned, off three hits and four walks during his stint while Guerrero gave up a run off four hits and two walks during his time on the mound. Case issued a walk in the ninth. Nunez and Guerrero each had five strikeouts and Guerrero picked up the win to up his record to 7-3.
The Royals were limited to six hits, all by the first five in the order. Dalton Pompey had a double and a single while Collymore hit two singles and J.D. Williams and Interisano each hit one single.
Both teams stranded nine runners while Collymore swiped three bases to lift his seasonal total to 24.
The Royals committed three errors in the match, one each by third baseman Collymore, shortstop Kyle Kush and catcher Noah Roberts.
The Cardinals used five pitchers with none of them going longer than three innings. Starter Nick Davies had the longest outing as he limited the Royals to two hits in his three innings. However, he yielded four earned runs as he walked seven and he had two strikeouts.
Corben Peters pitched an inning while Jose Fernandez pitched two, Strecker pitched one and Daury Torrez pitched two. Strecker gave up an earned run off two hits and a walk to take the loss. Peters and Fernandez each yielded a hit while Fernandez also walked a batter. Torrez and Fernandez both had three strikeouts while Peters had two.
Hamilton had seven hits in the game as Tyler Duncan smacked two singles and Josh Niles and Jeremie Veilleux each hit a double. Getting one single apiece were Luis Jean, Laine Renaud and Ryan Burnside.
The win secured a top-three finish for the Royals, who’ve won five consecutive games and 12 of their last 14 and have four games to play this week. They’re to play the eighth-place Brantford Red Sox (2-35) at Brantford’s Arnold Anderson Stadium Wednesday at 8 p.m. and then start a three-in-three weekend Friday with a 7:35 p.m. game against the Majors at London’s Labatt Park. Saturday, the Royals are to play Brantford again at Hastings Stadium at 7:30 p.m. in their final home game of the regular season before finishing off the regular season with a game against the Panthers at Kitchener’s Jack Couch Park Sunday at 2 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal