LINESCORE
CBL SEMIFINALS - GAME 1
Barrie 101 000 030— 5 7 1
Hamilton 010 310 20x— 7 8 1
Benítez (L,0-1), Pakkala (5), Moreta (6) and Ciprian;
Yan (W,1-0), Seroski (6), Adames (S,1) (9) and Magill.
HRs: Bar — Odd (1); Ham — None.
OTHER SCORES
London 6 Welland 5 (11 inn.) (London leads series 1-0)
Pitching around Tyler Duncan wasn't enough.
The Hamilton Cardinals centre-fielder reached base four times, going 3-for-3 with an intentional walk and an RBI triple helping the Cardinals beat the Barrie Baycats 7-5 in Game 1 of the CBL Semifinals on Friday night at Bernie Arbour Stadium.
It was a continuation of his strong hitting against the Baycats at home in the regular season, when he was 6-for-13 with two doubles and an RBI in those three games.
Duncan scored three of Hamilton's runs, including the go-ahead run in the fourth and an insurance run in the seventh. He was driven in twice by Jaden Brown, who finished with a double and three RBI.
Hamilton took control in the fourth inning. Darlin Germán scored on a wild pitch before Dario Borrero and Reyny Reyes each drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and single, respectively.
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Baycats starter Juan Benítez (0-1) appeared to stay away from the inner half of the plate early in counts against the middle of the Cardinals' order, especially Duncan.
The right-hander fell behind in his first two times facing the one-time MVP before he slashed two opposite-field singles.
"We we like going at him, but we also like pitching around him," Baycats manager Josh Matlow told Barrie360 postgame. "We just missed a few of our pitches and unfortunately Duncan hit it pretty hard on that triple and it changed the landscape of the game."
His triple, which was followed by a sacrifice fly by Brown that scored him, was part of a two-run seventh inning for Hamilton that was ultimately the difference in a game the Baycats made close in the eighth.
Down 7-2, Barrie strung together a double by Francisco Hernandez and an RBI single by Ryan Rijo before Adam Odd blasted a two-run home run over the right field wall. Rijo finished 3-for-4 with two RBI.
It brought the deficit to two, necessitating Cardinals manager Luis Bernardo going to Freisis Adames for the series-opening save.
Benítez got through just 4.2 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits and four walks (one intentional) while striking out two.
His counterpart, ERA champion Hector Yan (1-0), also walked four but allowed just two earned runs on four hits while striking out six.
Yan struggled to find his command early, and two walks and the Baycats' intentional rundown play allowed Barrie to take a 1-0 lead in the first despite not recording a hit.
The loss puts Barrie in an early hole, but with the best-of-seven series now shifting to Springwater for Game 2, Matlow isn't concerned.
"it's different when you're playing in the regular season and you see ace after ace after ace after ace," he explained. "In a series you've got to see one, two, three, and then same for us. You start playing with the matchups and it starts becoming a chess match... I'm just so happy we don't have a one-game play-in again."
UP NEXT
Barrie hosts Game 2 on Saturday afternoon with Saul Vasquez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) expected to start against Hamilton's Luis Ramirez.
"We've got to come with the energy at home and our fans need to be loud and hopefully we can punch back and hold serve," Matlow said.
