LINESCORE
CBL SEMIFINALS - GAME 5
Barrie 000 016 030— 10 13 1
Hamilton 500 000 100— 6 11 1
Garcés (W,3-0), Večerka (7), Sano (S,2) (8) and Ciprian, Puyol-Genossar (8);
Ramirez, Boatto (L,0-1) (6), Cory (6), Boulliere-Howard (7), Seroski (8) and Magill.
HRs: Bar — None; Ham — None.
OTHER SCORES
Welland 5 London 2 (Welland leads series 3-2)
After Game 4 of the CBL Semifinals, Barrie Baycats manager Josh Matlow joked that his team plays its best when the stakes are highest.
And with their season on the line on Friday, down by five early, the 'Cats added to that reputation, forcing Game 6 with a 10-6 win over the Hamilton Cardinals on Friday at Bernie Arbour Stadium.
With the Cardinals at home on the verge of clinching their first Finals berth since 2002, they got off to an ideal start, scoring five runs in the first inning while stringing together seven consecutive hits off Baycats starter Frank Garcés (3-0).
"They obviously had a plan against Frank (Garcés)," Matlow said. "Once he gathered himself and you forget that it's Frank Garcés on the mound, and you put up a few zeros, we chip away, and all of a sudden we've got a ballgame."
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Between the final out of the first and the first out of the seventh, Garcés recovered from the seven straight hits allowed by retiring 20 of the next 22 batters he faced. The only man to reach in that stretch was Reyny Reyes, who doubled and later drew a walk.
That performance bided time for the Baycats offence to build its way back into the game off Cardinals starter Luis Ramirez.
After picking up a run in the fifth, Barrie sent 11 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and brought in six runs, forcing two pitching changes.
The biggest hit came on a three-RBI double by Hayden Jaco, who went 4-for-4 with four RBI.
"I kind of blacked out," Jaco said of the two-out double, which he hit off Cardinals reliever Casey Boulliere-Howard. "I saw the inning developing early on. I knew I was gonna kind of be up with a 5-3 [deficit]. ... We haven't had the best two-out hitting and it was just a situation where the ball game found me and I just want to rally behind these guys more than anything."
Barrie was 1-for-8 in Game 4 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-9 with two outs, compared to Game 5 in which the team was 8-for-13 and 6-for-14 in those respective situations.
Two of Jaco's four hits were with two outs.
The Cardinals added another run in the seventh, but Barrie answered with three more in the eighth to take a 10-6 lead.
Each of Hamilton's six runs were driven in by separate hitters, while Reyes and Darlin Germán, who doubled and tripled, were the only Cardinals to have multiple hits.
Garcés was pulled with two out and the bases loaded in the seventh inning having thrown 123 pitches and keeping the Baycats within striking distance after the five-run first. He allowed six earned runs on 10 hits over 6.2 innings while striking out nine and walking two.
Matlow said Garcés' ability to settle down gave the offence a chance to mount its comeback.
"He kept us alive and the boys did the rest with the bats," Matlow said.
Boris Večerka and Carlos Sano combined to close out the final three innings, with Sano earning the save, his second of the playoffs.
The win was Barrie's third in four road games in the series, after the Baycats went winless in their two home games.
Jaco said the difference may be as simple as the routine surrounding road games.
"It's a full-day event when you're travelling on the road," he said. "It just kind of puts you in that mindset that you're ready to play."
For the Baycats, Brandon Hernandez had two hits, including a double, and drove in two, while Noel McGarry Doyle drove in two on three hits.
The Baycats were forced to make a late change to their pitching plans before the game after Saul Vasquez, who had been scheduled to start, told the team he was sick.
Matlow said Vasquez messaged him around 2 p.m. to say he thought he should rest, prompting the decision to give the ball to Garcés.
"When Frank says give me the ball, you know what's gonna happen," Matlow said.
Jaco left the game late after suffering what he described as a cramp while trying to score on Brandon Hernandez's eighth-inning RBI double, but said afterward that he hoped to be ready for Game 6.
UP NEXT
Game 6 of the CBL Semifinals is Saturday afternoon in Springwater. Reigning MVP Owen Boon (0-1, 15.75 ERA) is expected to start for Hamilton, while Barrie is yet to name a starter.
"Same type of deal as today," Jaco said. "Show up realizing this could be our last day of the year at the ballpark, and how bad do you want it?"
