As soon as it looked like the early-season jitters were finally gone on defence for the Barrie Baycats, errors continued to plague the team on Sunday.
Defensive mistakes directly led to the Guelph Royals scoring five of their runs in a 7-2 win at Athletic Kulture Stadium to end Barrie's three-game win streak.
Guelph hit two home runs in a four-run fourth inning, one of them made possible by a costly Baycats error, one of four the the team committed during the game.
Despite an otherwise efficient outing, Baycats starter Juan Mejia was tagged with the loss, allowing five runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out seven over 6.1 innings.
Those seven strikeouts put him in a tie with London's Victor Payano for the league lead in strikeouts with 15.
Meanwhile, Barrie's bats couldn't muster much off Guelph starter Elvin Liriano, who allowed one run (unearned) off four hits and three walks while striking out six in five innings.
CLICK HERE FOR GAME SUMMARY
CANADIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE
Guelph 000 400 102 7 8 0
Barrie 000 010 100 2 9 4
Liriano (W,2-1), Thomas (6), Escorcia (8, S,1);
Mejia (L,0-3), Jaco (7).
HRs: Gue — Hiraldo (3), Leader (1), Ward (1); Bar — None.
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Mejia had faced the minimum until the fourth when Brandon Hernandez made a fielding error backhanding a groundball hit by Antony Gilbert. The error immediately cost the team when Miguel Hiraldo lined a two-run homer barely over the left field fence.
Three batters later, including a walk, Andy Leader hit a two-run shot of his own, adding giving the Royals two more runs they wouldn't have had without Hernandez's misplay.
The Baycats' only run off Liriano came in off a passed ball in the fifth, when after Hernandez began a two-out rally with a single, he scored on a passed ball by Royals catcher Matthew Ward.
To lead off the seventh, Ward immediately made up for it and hit a home run of his own push Guelph's lead back to four runs.
Hernandez started another two-out rally an inning later with a double and was driven in on Canice Ejoh's second single.
Barrie's best chance to pull even came in the eighth, when Adam Odd began the two-out scoring push with a hit followed by two walks. Wandy Ciprian then had a chance to capitalize as a pinch hitter and the tying run on base, but grounded out to leave the bases loaded.
For the game, Barrie left 11 runners on base.
Unfortunately for the Baycats comeback hopes, another error directly led to two unearned runs in the top of the ninth off Hayden Jaco, making his first regular season pitching appearance since 2024.
Odd made a wide throw to first base on a two-out groundball hit by Ryan Dos Santos, allowing Ward to score on the play after he reached on a leadoff single. One batter later, Gilbert drove in Dos Santos with an RBI single.
Poor defence can be chalked up as the direct cause of all three of the teams losses so far this season. Through eight games the Baycats have made a league-leading 22 errors. Meanwhile 16 of the team's 64 runs allowed were unearned, 11 of which have come in losses.
With his two errors on Sunday, Hernandez leads the league with five.
Escorcia, who got Guelph out of the eighth-inning jam completed his first CBL save in the ninth.
Baycats staff and players were not made available to the media postgame.
UP NEXT
The Baycats and Royals will face each other in a rematch on Tuesday night in Guelph. Braeden Pakkala (0-0, 0.00 ERA) is the likely starter for Barrie.
