Royals survive late-inning adventure for top-2 finish
KITCHENER – The Guelph Royals secured themselves a top-two finish as they hung on to edge the Kitchener Panthers 8-7 Sunday afternoon at Jack Couch Park.
They’ll finish in the top two spots with either the Welland Jackfish or the London Majors depending on the result of a makeup game between the Majors and Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night at Toronto’s Christie Pits. The game was postponed due to the weather Sunday.
Guelph Royals 8 Kitchener Panthers 7
The Royals and Jackfish are currently tied for first at 31-11 while London is half a game behind at 30-11.
If the Majors win Monday, they’ll host the Royals in a game for first place while Welland will finish third. Welland will finish third because they went 5-7 in games against both the Royals and Majors. London gets to host a first-place game with the Royals because the Majors outscored the Royals by three runs in their season series.
Sunday, the Royals were cruising along with an 8-2 lead after 4½ innings when the Panthers started to close the gap. The hosts scored two in the bottom of the fifth, one in the eighth and two in the ninth to close to within a single run before Andrew Case got the final out for his fifth save of the season and third in four outings.
Jeifry Nunez had started for the Royals and was lifted after a season-high seven innings. He’d held Kitchener to four earned runs off nine hits and he didn’t walk anyone. He also had six strikeouts to improve his record to 2-0 in five starts.
Daniel Marquez pitched 2/3s of an inning and surrendered an earned run off three hits and a walk before giving way to Case for the final 1 1/3 innings. He struggled a little, yielding two earned runs, equaling the amount he’d given up in all of his previous 14 outings. He walked two to double his seasonal total and gave up two hits and had a strikeout.
In all, Kitchener stranded 10 runners in the game with half that total coming in the final two innings as the Panthers left the bases loaded in the eighth and left two on in the ninth.
At the plate, Malik Collymore continued his love of Kitchener’s Jack Couch Park as he belted two homers and also hit a double, driving in three runs. In three games there this season, Collymore clobbered four homers and had 11 RBIs. Overall for the season he had seven homers and 41 RBIs.
Conner Morro hit a double, Guelph’s only other extra-base hit, and he also hit a single while J.D. Williams and Ashton Patterson each hit two singles. Adding one single apiece were Dalton Pompey and Sean Reilly.
Brett Reid was tagged with the loss for Kitchener to drop his record to 0-6. He gave up five earned runs off five hits and two walks in three innings.
Tyler Lawrence relieved for two innings and was touched for three earned runs off four hits and a walk.
Jake Roberts and Grant Shantz each kept the Royals scoreless during their stints. Roberts gave up a hit and two walks in three innings while Shantz surrendered a hit in one inning.
Each of the Kitchener pitchers had a single strikeout.
Andy Leader hit three singles for the Panthers while Liam Wilson and Robbie Gauthier each smacked a homer and a double. Keegan Marsden and David Polson each hit two singles while Blake Jacklin, Evyn Sherman and Dan Mahoney each hit one single.
The win moved the Royals into a tie for first with Welland as the Jackfish had taken temporary sole possession of top spot 13 minutes earlier when they completed a 13-6 win over the Hamilton Cardinals at Hamilton’s Bernie Arbour Stadium.
The victory over Kitchener means the Royals will not face the sixth-place Panthers (15-27) in the best-of-five quarter-finals. They’ll play either seventh-place Hamilton (12-30) or eighth-place Brantford Red Sox (2-39).
Brantford had its game against the fifth-place Barrie Baycats (21-20) in Barrie Sunday night rained out. It won’t be rescheduled as both teams were already locked into their final finishing position.
As for the Royals, they’ll have to wait for Monday’s game to see where they’ll play their game for first-place and all will be hoping that Mother Nature doesn’t win again.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Royals survive late-inning adventure for top-2 finish
KITCHENER – The Guelph Royals secured themselves a top-two finish as they hung on to edge the Kitchener Panthers 8-7 Sunday afternoon at Jack Couch Park.
They’ll finish in the top two spots with either the Welland Jackfish or the London Majors depending on the result of a makeup game between the Majors and Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night at Toronto’s Christie Pits. The game was postponed due to the weather Sunday.
Guelph Royals 8
Kitchener Panthers 7
The Royals and Jackfish are currently tied for first at 31-11 while London is half a game behind at 30-11.
If the Majors win Monday, they’ll host the Royals in a game for first place while Welland will finish third. Welland will finish third because they went 5-7 in games against both the Royals and Majors. London gets to host a first-place game with the Royals because the Majors outscored the Royals by three runs in their season series.
Sunday, the Royals were cruising along with an 8-2 lead after 4½ innings when the Panthers started to close the gap. The hosts scored two in the bottom of the fifth, one in the eighth and two in the ninth to close to within a single run before Andrew Case got the final out for his fifth save of the season and third in four outings.
Jeifry Nunez had started for the Royals and was lifted after a season-high seven innings. He’d held Kitchener to four earned runs off nine hits and he didn’t walk anyone. He also had six strikeouts to improve his record to 2-0 in five starts.
Daniel Marquez pitched 2/3s of an inning and surrendered an earned run off three hits and a walk before giving way to Case for the final 1 1/3 innings. He struggled a little, yielding two earned runs, equaling the amount he’d given up in all of his previous 14 outings. He walked two to double his seasonal total and gave up two hits and had a strikeout.
In all, Kitchener stranded 10 runners in the game with half that total coming in the final two innings as the Panthers left the bases loaded in the eighth and left two on in the ninth.
At the plate, Malik Collymore continued his love of Kitchener’s Jack Couch Park as he belted two homers and also hit a double, driving in three runs. In three games there this season, Collymore clobbered four homers and had 11 RBIs. Overall for the season he had seven homers and 41 RBIs.
Conner Morro hit a double, Guelph’s only other extra-base hit, and he also hit a single while J.D. Williams and Ashton Patterson each hit two singles. Adding one single apiece were Dalton Pompey and Sean Reilly.
Brett Reid was tagged with the loss for Kitchener to drop his record to 0-6. He gave up five earned runs off five hits and two walks in three innings.
Tyler Lawrence relieved for two innings and was touched for three earned runs off four hits and a walk.
Jake Roberts and Grant Shantz each kept the Royals scoreless during their stints. Roberts gave up a hit and two walks in three innings while Shantz surrendered a hit in one inning.
Each of the Kitchener pitchers had a single strikeout.
Andy Leader hit three singles for the Panthers while Liam Wilson and Robbie Gauthier each smacked a homer and a double. Keegan Marsden and David Polson each hit two singles while Blake Jacklin, Evyn Sherman and Dan Mahoney each hit one single.
The win moved the Royals into a tie for first with Welland as the Jackfish had taken temporary sole possession of top spot 13 minutes earlier when they completed a 13-6 win over the Hamilton Cardinals at Hamilton’s Bernie Arbour Stadium.
The victory over Kitchener means the Royals will not face the sixth-place Panthers (15-27) in the best-of-five quarter-finals. They’ll play either seventh-place Hamilton (12-30) or eighth-place Brantford Red Sox (2-39).
Brantford had its game against the fifth-place Barrie Baycats (21-20) in Barrie Sunday night rained out. It won’t be rescheduled as both teams were already locked into their final finishing position.
As for the Royals, they’ll have to wait for Monday’s game to see where they’ll play their game for first-place and all will be hoping that Mother Nature doesn’t win again.
- Guelph Sports Journal