It will be a repeat of last year’s Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) semifinals when the Welland Jackfish meet the Guelph Royals beginning Saturday night in the Rose City.
The Royals prevailed in four games in 2024.
The Jackfish are looking to flip the script this year.
Welland finished the regular season tops in the nine-team IBL with an impressive (31-11) record, while Guelph finished sixth at (20-22)
Both the Jackfish and Royals recorded opening round three-game playoff sweeps – Welland over the Kitchener Panthers and Guelph against the London Majors.
The Jackfish swept the season series outscoring the Royals 33-13 in five games.
Despite that, Welland Manager Brian Essery knows the playoffs are a different beast.
“Guelph is an experienced, older, team with really good pitching,” Essery said.
Without a clear No. 1 starter in the regular season it will be interesting to see what rotation the Royals throw at the Jackfish in the best of five series.
Garrett Takamatsu is clearly Guelph’s catalyst on offense, while Edgar Garcia is its clear cut closer.
Takamatsu hit .583 in the first round of the playoffs, after hitting 336 during the regular season. Garcia recorded seven saves during the regular season and one in the opening round of the postseason.
Matteo Porcellato led Welland in the regular season hitting at a .396 clip, while the middle infield combination of Brendan Luther and Jonah Weisner hit .500 and .462 respectively in 23 at bats against Kitchener.
Jackfish starter Teodoro Ortega (7-1 with a 2.25 ERA) was arguably the best pitcher in the league during the regular season. Ortega didn’t allow a run to open the playoffs against the Panthers.
Essery plans on using the same starting pitching rotation he did against Kitchener over the opening three games against the Royals – Ortega, Eculides Leyer and Ben Abram. All three were strong against the Panthers.
The Jackfish will have a full week off before playing Game 1 Saturday evening.
“Obviously we would have liked to play this week but we knew we’d have to wait to see who our opponent was,” explained Essery.
Game two in the series goes Sunday afternoon in Guelph.
Here’s a look at the full second round playoff series schedule:
WELLAND (1) VS. GUELPH (6)
Game 1: Saturday, Aug. 30 at Welland, 6:05 p.m.
Game 2; Sunday, Aug. 31 at Guelph, 4:05 p.m.
Game 3: Tuesday, Sept. 2 at Welland, 7:15 p.m.
*Game 4: Wednesday, Sept. 3 at Guelph, 7:35 p.m.
*Game 5: Thursday, Sept. 4 at Welland, 7:15 p.m.
*denotes if necessary
“This will be a fun series. Everyone is healthy, just looking forward to starting it,” added Essery.
The Hamilton Cardinals face the defending IBL Champion Barrie Baycats in the other semifinal.
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.
