Four home runs by the Barrie Baycats (11-9), including two by Noel McGarry-Doyle highlighted another strong team offensive performance in a 12-2 win over the Guelph Royals (9-12) at Athletic Kulture Stadium Thursday.
With a three-for-five performance, McGarry-Doyle is 11-for-19 with three homers in four games since returning to the IBL from the Frontier League.
This was the Royals' first game at Barrie since the 2024 IBL Finals, and they were hit hard by Barrie's lineup, which has now put up 14 or more hits in each of the last four games.
Barrie has won four games in a row and is two games above .500 for the first time this season.
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LINE SCORE
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | x | 2 | 14 | 0 |
Barrie's scoring got started right away with Noel McGarry-Doyle leading off the bottom of the first with his third home run of the season.
The Baycats added two more with another leadoff home run by Tristan Clarke, followed by McGarry-Doyle bringing in another on a fielder's choice.
Two runs came across for Guelph in the third without needing to record a hit. Baycats starter Johnathan Warden issued four walks and hit a batter before being pulled in favour of reliever Adam Khan.
However, that's all Guelph would cash in throughout the game. The Royals has baserunners in all but one inning and eventually left 11 on base total.
Nolan Machibroda drove in a run on a groundout in the fourth to make it 4-2 before Barrie blew it open with five in the fifth.
McGarry-Doyle led off the inning with another home run before RBI singles by Machibroda, Clarke, Noah Hull, and Tyler Plumpton. This was McGarry-Doyle's first multi-homer game in his IBL career.
For good measure, Machibroda crushed a three-run bomb in the eighth inning, extending his team-leading RBI total to 20 through 20 games.
Ramon Henriquez closed out the game with two clean innings. It's the Dominican right-hander's first scoreless outing since joining the Baycats.
"It was a perfect spot for him," Matlow said. "He came in, threw really hard, and threw a lot of strikes, and that's what we wanted to see from him."
LONG TIME COMING
Khan went 4.1 innings in relief without allowing a run and got his first IBL win since June 28, 2023. It's also the first time since then that he's had back-to-back appearances without an earned run allowed.
"Adam wants to be one of the guys. He doesn't want to just eat innings anymore," Matlow said. "It gives us another option, and maybe down the road, a high-leverage situation.
It was the longest outing without allowing an earned run since June 17, 2023, which was a 5.1-inning no-decision in relief against Brantford.
Part of that was due in part to an incredible inning-ending diving catch by Baycats centerfielder Clayton Keyes to rob Andy Leader of extra bases in the fourth.
Keyes was taken out of the game after that as a precaution. Keyes said after the game he's had a nagging quad injury that came up Tuesday in London.
YOUNG ARMS
This was the first IBL start for both 18-year-old starting pitchers: Barrie's Johnathan Warden, and Guelph's Aydn Schell.
"I was pretty nervous coming up to this, but it's nothing new," Warden said postgame. "I just had to get mentally prepared and good to go. The nerves got away as soon as that first inning was done."
Warden, a Barrie-native, went just 2.2 innings, with the game nearly getting away from him in the third before Khan came in and stranded the bases loaded.
"[He's] got an electric fastball, Matlow said. "I just didn't want him going down that rabbit hole and getting frustrated and losing his confidence."
Warden struggled to find the zone throughout his outing, throwing only 38 of his 72 pitches for strikes.
Meanwhile, Schell made his IBL debut, getting the start instead of the previously announced Sebastian Rodriguez. The Missouri State-commit went four innings allowing four earned runs and being charged with the loss.
Royals manager Dino Roumel continued the trend of junior pitchers throughout the game. 18-year-old Owen Newman allowed five earned runs in 0.1 innings before 19-year-old Jeff Tiw went 2.2 scoreless innings in his IBL debut.
"They got a little bit more tell to them," McGarry-Doyle said postgame. "They still haven't developed that ability to hide pitches well. But, gotta give credit to them. They've got a pretty good young staff coming up, and I'd love to see what they do in these next couple of years."
KEY STAT
While Barrie has had multiple four-home run games this year on the road, this is the team's first at home since July 9, 2022. Jake Wilson, Malik Williams, and Ryan Rijo each homered in that game, with Rijo going yard twice.
UP NEXT
The Baycats are in Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs (11-11) at Christie Pits Friday. Juan Benítez (2-1, 3.19 ERA) will start for Barrie, while Toronto will give Matt Brown (0-0, 3.60 ERA) his first IBL start.
The Royals will play on the road against the London Majors (13-8). Both team's starters are TBA.
