A 10th-inning walk-off single by Alex Wickett capped off a three-run 6-5 comeback victory for the Barrie Baycats (13-9) over the London Majors (14-9).
It's Barrie's sixth straight win, and third in as many days. It was the sixth game in a stretch that features the Baycats playing seven games in nine days.
"This was a good character win where you saw some fight back," Barrie manager Josh Matlow said postgame. "Frank [Garcés] didn't have his best stuff, but he shouldn't have to be perfect every time he comes to the mound."
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| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 |
 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 1 |
It was a battle of the staff aces, Barrie's Garcés and London's Travis Keys. However, both lefties struggled early, especially Garcés, whose last start against London featured seven perfect innings.
The former major leaguer allowed a walk to Toby Simmons to start the game, who later scored on an RBI single by Eduardo de Oleo.
It was a very uncharacteristic result for Garces who came into the game having only allowed 31 bases on balls in 279 career IBL innings to that point.
Barrie answered as Tristan Clarke drove in Noel McGarry-Doyle with a single to tie the game the following inning, but Adrian Harrison followed that up in the second with an RBI of his own to put London back up.
De Oleo extended the Majors' lead with a monster two-run home run out to left field that likely landed on Highway 26. He was later walked intentionally twice following that drive.
Clarke drove in another on a sacrifice fly in the third to shrink the deficit, but it was matched by Josh Niles in the top of the sixth to make it 5-2 London.
Meanwhile, Keys was on his way to his fifth quality start of the season, which he got, but in the process allowed an uplifting home run by Noah Hull to center field in the sixth.
Garcés finished seven innings allowing five earned runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out nine. It's just his fifth-career IBL outing allowing five or more earned runs and his second at home against London this season.
Coming into the game, his road ERA was a minimal 1.41, but at home it was a staggering 5.63.
However, it was Clarke who kept helping his starter and took him off the hook with a game-tying two-run homer off Nate Bennett.
Clarke is now on a seven-game hit streak, and has 10 RBI in that span. He came into the game seven-for-21 with runners in scoring position this season.
"Play to your strengths, Clarke said postgame. If you do too much, that's when things start going sideways."
Braeden Pakkala entered in relief of Garcés and had an efficient eighth inning but got into trouble in the ninth.
After loading the bases with a walk and two hits, he came through with a strikeout of Tucker Zdunich, and had an emphatic reaction coming off the field.
Pakkala is having a bounce-back season, maintaining an ERA of 1.54 in seven appearances this year after an 8.34 ERA through 12 outings last year. He hasn't allowed a run in each of his last five games (7.2 IP).
"Being a year older, a year under my belt in this league, a little bit more confidence," he explained postgame as his major differences between the two seasons. "It means a lot to be a part of this team and keep getting in those big situations."
"We're looking for a set-up man, a guy in the pen before [Carlos] Sano," Matlow said. "He did that last night, he did that tonight, so now he's starting to roll. His confidence up, our confidence for him is up."
Ryan Beitel held the Baycats scoreless in the eighth and ninth, forcing extra innings. Sano then came on for Barrie and held off the Majors in the tenth.
For Barrie in the bottom half, Barrie had two on with two out before Wickett came through with his second hit of the game to score Clarke and complete the three-run comeback.
"Everyone had that feeling that if it doesn't happen with this guy, we might not win the ballgame, Matlow said "He's just on a high and we're riding it with him."
The team has noticeably rallied around Wickett since he's become a starter full time after an injury to Francisco Hernandez.
"I've never walked a game off like that before," he said postgame. "I was just remembering what I see on TV."
Wickett is hitting .414 in seven games since getting called up from the Baycats affilate team. He also extended a hit streak to six games Saturday.
Sano improved to 3-0 on the season, while Beitel was charged with his first loss of his IBL career.
FAMILY SUPPORT
While it's not uncommon for players' families to come out to support them at games, a few came a long way to be at games this weekend.
Pakkala, who hails from Sudbury, had his parents in attendance for his clutch two inning outing.
"It's always great to have the extra support and know someone's watching me in the crowd," he said.
Meanwhile, Clarke, had his wife and four sons in attendance in Toronto Friday and in Midhurst Saturday after they made the roughly 2,100 kilometre trip this week.
It's one of those things where you try to keep staying in the moment, he said. "It's awesome them being there, but you still have a job to do... show, especially the younger ones, what you're supposed to do, how you're supposed to act."
Baycats first baseman Nolan Machibroda's family has also been at games recently. They made the trip from the Saskatoon area and saw him extend his hit streak to 12 games.
KEY STAT
Entering Saturday's games, London was 8-1 this season when leading after six innings and Barrie was 1-8. In 2024, the teams were 21-8 and 2-8 respectively in the same situations.
UP NEXT
Barrie will start Cesar Rosado (3-2, 3.85 ERA) a against the Guelph Royals (10-13). It's rescheduled game after a rainout May 22. The Royals will start former major leaguer Edgar Garcia (0-1, 1.20 ERA)
London will likely start Jose Arias (2-1, 3.43 ERA) on the road in Hamilton Sunday against the Cardinals (9-12) who'll probably start Enrique Saldana (0-2, 11.45 ERA).
