LINESCORE
CANADIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE
Chatham-Kent 000 210 000— 3 6 2
Barrie 020 000 002— 4 6 1
Akatsuka, Gustafson (BS, L,1-2) (9) and Ohta;
Benítez, Rosario (3), Moreta (7), Večerka (8) Sano (W,8-2) (9) and Puyol-Genossar.
HRs: Ckb — None; Bar — Ciprian (9).
OTHER SCORES
Brantford 26 Kitchener 3
Welland 9 Toronto 0
Hamilton 8 Guelph 5
Wandy Ciprian drove in all four of the Barrie Baycats' (27-21) runs, including two on a game-winning single in a 4-3 walk-off win over the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers (14-33) on Saturday at Athletic Kulture.
It was the ideal ending to the regular season for Barrie, which enters the playoffs after going 7-9 in August while hitting just .255 as a team.
"It's more for the confidence of the guys," Baycats manager Josh Matlow said postgame. "Reminding us that we're capable of things like that."
Trailing 3-2 heading into the ninth, Barrie mounted a rally to load the bases before Ciprian slashed a hit off Shane Gustafson (1-2) down the left field line to plate two and seal the victory.
The Baycats' rookie, who started in left field for the first time in his CBL career, homered in the second inning to give Barrie an early 2-0 lead, but that was all the team would get off Chatham-Kent's starter Mizuki Akatsuka.
It was a season-best outing for the Japanese switch-pitcher, who held the Baycats to just four hits over a season-long eight-inning outing while striking out 11 — also a season high. His outing ended at less than 100 pitches having retired the last 11 batters he faced, five of them by strikeout.
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Noel McGarry Doyle acted as the catalyst for Barrie's rally, leading off the ninth with a pinch-hit single.
"Putting Noel in and having a little sparkplug helps," Matlow said. "Once he got on, we kind of knew what we had to do."
Francisco Hernandez followed with a bunt that turned into a throwing error by Gustafson, putting two runners in scoring position. That led to an intentional walk, a fielder's choice, and then Ciprian's heroics.
Chatham-Kent picked up the 3-2 lead after Yushin Ohta scored on a wild pitch by Baycats reliever Ronny Rosario in the fourth inning, before the Barnstormers' catcher drove in two with a two-out double in the fifth.
Baycats starter Juan Benítez's two-inning outing was scoreless, allowing just one hit. Matlow said his plan was to have him only get a couple innings to make sure everyone in his bullpen had at least one inning across the final two games of the season.
Carlos Sano (8-2), who struck out the side in the ninth, moved into a tie for the league lead in wins.
The win doesn't erase the Baycats' struggles over the past month, but Matlow doesn't want his team carrying them into the playoffs.
“It is a clean slate,” Matlow said. “We know what we're capable of, and I think that's what guys need to get in their heads and not worry about what their statistics look like or what they've done in the last 10 games.”
Barrie's fifth-place finish means it will face fourth-place Guelph in Tuesday's CBL Wild Card Game, with the winner advancing to the semifinals and the loser packing up for the year.
Frank Garcés, the playoff MVP in Barrie's 2024 championship run, will get the start, while Guelph will likely counter with Elvin Liriano.
Guelph won four of six meetings this season, including a 6-3, 12-inning victory in their most recent matchup. Garcés started that game, allowing just one earned run on one hit over six innings, although the Baycats never led.
Garcés will need the offence to provide the kind of support it has struggled to give him throughout the season. Over his 77.1 innings in 2026, the former major leaguer pitched with the Baycats leading for just 16.2 of them
Given the championship pedigree of his team, Matlow isn't concerned about the team turning it on in the playoffs.
“We've been there, we've done it," he said. We've been in the finals, we've won the finals, so we kind of know what it takes.”
The Baycats would have preferred to host the do-or-die game, but their 15-9 road record is the best in the CBL, compared with 12-12 at home.
"We were just a little complacent at home and guys took their sweet time a little bit too much," Matlow said. "Playing on the road will keep us on our toes — and our record shows it.... it's just a different routine."
Since the All-Star Game, Barrie has won back-to-back games just twice, another indication of the inconsistency Matlow wants his team to leave behind.
"Considering our pattern, even though we are flipping the page, the win loss, win-loss, win loss is obviously a concern," he said. "We just hope the right version of us shows up on [Tuesday]."
