The Welland Jackfish took Game 1 in the best-of-seven Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) finals with a 6-5 victory over the visiting Barrie Baycats Sunday afternoon in the Rose City.
Barrie would strike first in the second inning as Adam Odd would hit the first of his two home runs on the day. Welland would respond in the bottom of the inning, scoring three times, and take a 5-2 lead in the third inning. However, the visitors would rally with two runs in the fifth inning and one in the sixth to tie the game 5-5, and that’s where things stood until the bottom of the ninth inning when Robert Mullen played hero again for the Jackfish.
With the bases loaded, Mullen lined a pitch to left field for his 200th career IBL hit, giving the home side the 6-5 victory.
“It was another great team win. Barrie played a great game as well; their lineup is very good,” said Welland Manager Brian Essery.
Jackfish starter Ben Abram lasted four innings giving up four runs on 10 hits.
Reliever Pedro De Los Santos entered the game in the seventh inning and struck out four Barrie batters over three scoreless innings to earn the win and Player of the Game nod.
“Pedro came in and shut it down; he was excellent tonight – exactly what we needed,” Essery said.
Jonah Weisner led the Jackfish with three hits, while Jake Sanford and Brandon Hupe both drove in a pair in the win.
Baycats starter Frank Garces went eight innings, throwing 126 pitches, giving up five runs on 10 hits.
Barrie’s leadoff hitter Noel McGarry-Doyle leads all active IBL batters in playoff hits with 16, runs with 10 and sports a .432 average, while Mullen has a Jackfish playoff high .400 batting average. Weisner has 14 hits.
“The crowd (Sunday) was amazing. They brought energy and we fed off that,” added Essery.
Game two goes Tuesday night in Barrie with former major leaguer Jose Dominguez expected to get the start for Welland.
Euclides Leyer or Teodoro Ortega will start Game 3.
Here’s a look at the rest of the IBL Finals schedule:
Game 2: Tuesday, September 9 at Barrie 7:35 pm
Game 3: Thursday, September 11 at Welland; 7:15 pm
Game 4: Saturday, September 13 at Barrie; 4:05 pm
Game 5: Sunday, September 14 at Welland; 4:05 pm*
Game 6: Tuesday, September 16 at Barrie; 7:35 pm*
Game 7: Thursday, September 18 at Welland; 7:15 pm*
*Denotes if necessary
Tickets for Game three, back in Welland on Thursday night, are on sale now at wellandjackfish.com or by calling 905-735-9834.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
