Guelph Royals walk away with season-opening win
HAMILTON – The Guelph Royals took advantage of Hamilton Cardinals pitchers who struggled to find the strike zone to claim a 10-5 victory in their Intercounty Baseball League opener Friday night at Bernie Arbour Stadium.
The Royals struck for eight of their runs in the first four innings when starter Nick Davies and reliever Gabe Braun walked seven Royals between them. They also yielded six hits, struck a batter with a pitch and had a Guelph run come in on a wild pitch.
In all, 14 Guelph batters were walked in the game, but none after Connor Theal, Hamilton’s third pitcher, was replaced by Drew Mainprize after 6 1/3 innings.
Guelph Royals 10 Hamilton Cardinals 5
Of the 55 pitches thrown by Davies in 1 2/3 innings, 32 were balls. Braun threw 71 pitches in 3 1/3 innings and 40 were balls while the struggles by the host’s pitchers continued when Theal threw 41 pitches during his stint of 1 1/3 innings and 26 were balls.
Mainprize tossed 33 pitches in his 1 2/3 innings of work and 24 were strikes and L Bernardo threw 11 pitches in a three up-three down ninth inning, eight for strikes.
The Royals had their own pitching woes late in the match. They used seven hurlers in the game with Jeff MacLeod being the seventh when he got an unexpected call to the mound in the ninth when former Major Leaguer Dario Alvarez was injured after throwing his first pitch with the team, a ball.
MacLeod pitched the remainder of the ninth and didn’t allow a hit, but he walked four and three of them came in to score, one on a wild pitch and two on groundouts.
Seven Guelph pitchers combined to hold Hamilton to three hits. Starter Kyle Thomas yielded two of the hits while Ben Reid, the fourth pitcher for the Royals, gave up one.
Thomas yielded two earned runs and he had two strikeouts and two walks in three innings on the mound before giving way for Jared Kennedy who picked up the win after tossing two innings. He walked two and struck out five while Yuki Narita, who’s joined the Royals after pitching in a Japanese company league, struck out all three batters he faced in the sixth inning. Reid pitched an inning and had a strikeout while Sandy Baez also pitched an inning and had a walk.
Of the seven pitchers used by the Royals, only Reid and MacLeod, normally an outfielder, were with the team in their season-ending series loss to the Cardinals last August.
J.D. Williams and Ethan Hammond, the first two in Guelph’s batting order, gave an indication of things to come when they started the game with back-to-back singles. Williams went 4-for-4 with three runs and an RBI and he was also walked twice. Hammond went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs and he was also walked twice and he had Guelph’s lone stolen base.
Tristan Pompey, Brando Leroux and Brandon Keys, batting fourth through sixth in the order for the Royals, combined for three hits (one apiece), six RBIs (two apiece) and four walks (two to Pompey, one each to the other two).
Williams, Hammond and Pompey each hit a double, Guelph’s extra-base hits in the game.
Ashton Patterson, Guelph’s ninth batter in the order, scored two runs after being walked twice.
The Royals join the Barrie Baycats and Kitchener Panthers with 1-0 records while the Cardinals and Toronto Maple Leafs are both at 1-1. London Majors, Brantford Red Sox and Welland Jackfish all dropped their season openers.
The Royals are to host Kitchener Saturday at 1 p.m. in their home opener at Hastings Stadium. The Panthers dumped Brantford 18-2 Friday night at Brantford as they clobbered 13 hits and had nine walks. Cuban shortstop Raul Gonzalez went 5-for-6 with three runs and five RBIs as he smacked two homers.
Guelph is also slated to play the Toronto Maple Leafs at Christie Pits Sunday at 2 p.m. The Leafs won their season opener 5-4 over London at Christie Pits last Sunday, but were edged 11-10 by the Baycats in Barrie Thursday night.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Guelph Royals walk away with season-opening win
HAMILTON – The Guelph Royals took advantage of Hamilton Cardinals pitchers who struggled to find the strike zone to claim a 10-5 victory in their Intercounty Baseball League opener Friday night at Bernie Arbour Stadium.
The Royals struck for eight of their runs in the first four innings when starter Nick Davies and reliever Gabe Braun walked seven Royals between them. They also yielded six hits, struck a batter with a pitch and had a Guelph run come in on a wild pitch.
In all, 14 Guelph batters were walked in the game, but none after Connor Theal, Hamilton’s third pitcher, was replaced by Drew Mainprize after 6 1/3 innings.
Guelph Royals 10
Hamilton Cardinals 5
Of the 55 pitches thrown by Davies in 1 2/3 innings, 32 were balls. Braun threw 71 pitches in 3 1/3 innings and 40 were balls while the struggles by the host’s pitchers continued when Theal threw 41 pitches during his stint of 1 1/3 innings and 26 were balls.
Mainprize tossed 33 pitches in his 1 2/3 innings of work and 24 were strikes and L Bernardo threw 11 pitches in a three up-three down ninth inning, eight for strikes.
The Royals had their own pitching woes late in the match. They used seven hurlers in the game with Jeff MacLeod being the seventh when he got an unexpected call to the mound in the ninth when former Major Leaguer Dario Alvarez was injured after throwing his first pitch with the team, a ball.
MacLeod pitched the remainder of the ninth and didn’t allow a hit, but he walked four and three of them came in to score, one on a wild pitch and two on groundouts.
Seven Guelph pitchers combined to hold Hamilton to three hits. Starter Kyle Thomas yielded two of the hits while Ben Reid, the fourth pitcher for the Royals, gave up one.
Thomas yielded two earned runs and he had two strikeouts and two walks in three innings on the mound before giving way for Jared Kennedy who picked up the win after tossing two innings. He walked two and struck out five while Yuki Narita, who’s joined the Royals after pitching in a Japanese company league, struck out all three batters he faced in the sixth inning. Reid pitched an inning and had a strikeout while Sandy Baez also pitched an inning and had a walk.
Of the seven pitchers used by the Royals, only Reid and MacLeod, normally an outfielder, were with the team in their season-ending series loss to the Cardinals last August.
J.D. Williams and Ethan Hammond, the first two in Guelph’s batting order, gave an indication of things to come when they started the game with back-to-back singles. Williams went 4-for-4 with three runs and an RBI and he was also walked twice. Hammond went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs and he was also walked twice and he had Guelph’s lone stolen base.
Tristan Pompey, Brando Leroux and Brandon Keys, batting fourth through sixth in the order for the Royals, combined for three hits (one apiece), six RBIs (two apiece) and four walks (two to Pompey, one each to the other two).
Williams, Hammond and Pompey each hit a double, Guelph’s extra-base hits in the game.
Ashton Patterson, Guelph’s ninth batter in the order, scored two runs after being walked twice.
The Royals join the Barrie Baycats and Kitchener Panthers with 1-0 records while the Cardinals and Toronto Maple Leafs are both at 1-1. London Majors, Brantford Red Sox and Welland Jackfish all dropped their season openers.
The Royals are to host Kitchener Saturday at 1 p.m. in their home opener at Hastings Stadium. The Panthers dumped Brantford 18-2 Friday night at Brantford as they clobbered 13 hits and had nine walks. Cuban shortstop Raul Gonzalez went 5-for-6 with three runs and five RBIs as he smacked two homers.
Guelph is also slated to play the Toronto Maple Leafs at Christie Pits Sunday at 2 p.m. The Leafs won their season opener 5-4 over London at Christie Pits last Sunday, but were edged 11-10 by the Baycats in Barrie Thursday night.
- Guelph Sports Journal