After a five-game win streak to bring them above .500 for the first time this season, the Barrie Baycats (7-8) are right back down to a losing record less than 24 hours later after losing both games of Sunday's doubleheader to the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers (10-7) at Fergie Jenkins Field.
Friday's rainout forced the scheduling of two games on Sunday, with the first starting in the early morning. IBL games in doubleheaders are only played to seven innings.
With the two wins, the Barnstormers remain the hottest team in the IBL, having gone 8-2 in their last 10 games. At this point in 2024, the team's inaugural season, it was 6-11.
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GAME ONE
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrie | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Chatham-Kent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | x | 7 | 6 | 0 |
Barrie got on the board first against Chatham-Kent starter Brock Whitson with a second-inning homer by Willy Garcia, his second of the season. Tristan Clarke scored the other Baycats run in the fourth off a groundball double-play.
Baycats starter Juan Benítez cruised through his first four innings, allowing only two hits. The Barnstormers then took advantage of some small-ball tactics to tie it up in the fifth.
A sacrifice bunt by Spencer Morin moved two runners up after Benítez started the inning with a walk to Owen Constantineau and hit Sadler Goodwin with a pitch. Then, runs came in off a sacrifice fly by Torrin Vaselenak and an RBI single by Evan Morrison.
Ramon Henriquez relieved Benítez in the sixth, and was incredibly shaky. He walked four of the first five batters he faced, with the outlier, Braxton Haggith flying out to right, which resulted in a double play after an incredible throw by Garcia to get Mitsuki Fukuda out trying to advance from second to third. It was the first assist of the season for the former major-league outfielder.
Brad Greiveson took over for Henriquez with the bases loaded mid-inning and gave up three consecutive hits before getting out of the frame. That included a bases-clearing double by Morin, a triple by Vaselenak, and another hit by Morrison.
The three runs that scored off Morin's double were charged to Henriquez, who got his third loss of the season despite not allowing a hit.
Barnstormers reliever Aden Ryan got the win after shutting down the Baycats in his four-inning outing. He allowed just three hits and struck out three.
GAME TWO
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrie | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
| Chatham-Kent | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 7 | 8 | 7 |
Cesar Rosado started the second game for Barrie and his defense immediately got him into trouble, accounting for five unearned runs in his two-inning outing.
A two-out throwing error by third baseman Hayden Jaco extended the inning before Constantineau doubled with the bases loaded, scoring two. Jaco made another error on the next batter, allowing Sillett to score, and Chatham-Kent to take a 3-0 lead.
In the second, Barrie clawed back with two runs scoring on a double by Andrew Johnston, which was his first hit as a Baycat.
But more miscues continued defensively for the Baycats. First baseman Nolan Machibroda made an error that loaded the bases with nobody out. Then, with one out, Rosado miscued by taking an out at first on a groundball back to the mound instead of trying to initiate what could've been an inning-ending double play. That allowed Vaselenak to score from third.
Rosado then had two wild pitches to Trent Sillett which allowed Morrison to score and give the Barnstormers a 5-2 lead.
Johnathan Warden took over for Rosado, pitching two innings in relief, followed by an inning each by Chris Lazar and Braeden Pakkala.
Chatham-Kent added two more on a sacrifice fly by Morrison in the third and Yushin Ohta's second home run of the season in the fourth.
Noah Hull homered for Barrie in the sixth, his second of the season, and Machibroda knocked in another on a fielder's choice in the seventh, but that was all the Baycats could muster in a comeback attempt.
Barnstormers starter Yuri O'Connor-Yokoyama picked up his third win of the season after allowing just one earned run and striking out five in five innings. Eric Pettipiece got the final two outs for his second save after taking the loss Saturday.
Rosado got his second loss of the season despite not allowing an earned run, which has already cleared his loss total from 2024.
Last year, through six appearances, Rosado's strikeout-to-walk ratio was 31:17 in 23.2 innings. He went on to lead the IBL in strikeouts with 105, and set a Baycats single-season franchise record. This year, Rosado's ratio is 17:12 in 19.2 innings.
HIGH HEAT
Like much of Ontario, Chatham-Kent was also under heat warnings. When the first pitch of game one was thrown at 11:01 a.m., base temperatures were around 29 C (humidex 41 C).
During the second game, which started at 1:50 p.m., it felt like 45 C , and multiple Baycats players were taken out of the game due to heat exhaustion and replaced by relief pitchers.
Play was halted during the third inning for Austin Boylan, who was visibly distressed by the heat, and was later replaced by Warden in the order which took away the team's designated hitter. In the sixth, Henriquez took over for Garcia in right field.
KEY STAT
Barnstormers centerfielder Spencer Marcus assisted on three outs from the outfield Sunday, and four total in the three-game series. That more than doubles his total for the season, and puts him in the league lead among outfielders in assists with seven.
UP NEXT
The Baycats are on the road to play the Guelph Royals (6-9) for the first time since Barrie clinched the 2024 IBL championship at David E. Hastings Stadium in September. Ethan Morris (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his second start of the season for Barrie, while Guelph is expected to start Jordan Taylor (0-0, 4.39 ERA).
The Barnstormers will play the London Majors (12-5) at Labatt Park on Friday.
