Week in Review: Potential Playoff Previews for Royals
GUELPH, ON - The Guelph Royals had four games this week, with a few giving fans and players a taste of what the playoffs could look like.
Tuesday, August 5
In what could very well be a first round matchup in this years IBL playoffs, the Royals played host to the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers at Hastings Stadium.
Guelph got off to a hot start with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Liam Wilson drove in the Royals first run by scoring Conner Morro from second base. Two batters later, JD Williams scored Keinner Pina from third base with a sacrifice fly to right field.
Later on in the bottom of the third inning, Guelph added on another two runs when Wilson scored Morro for the second time. Pina scored again, this time courtesy of Ethan Hammond’s bat and his first RBI of the game.
Chatham-Kent stormed right back the very next inning and tied the game up with a four run inning. But Guelph answered immediately, when Hammond notched his second RBI of the game and scored Williams from second base. Chatham-Kent again answered right back to tie the game at five a piece after the top of the sixth.
But the teams kept trading runs, and Guelph re-gained the lead in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to Damon Topolie 499th career RBI. He scored Morro, Morro’s third of the game, and that would stand as the winning run of the ballgame.
Guelph’s pitching held it down for the rest of the game, with Kyle Thomas, Niall Windeler and Edgar Garcia only letting up three hits and one earned run in relief of starter Claudio Custodio, who struck out four batters over his four innings.
Manager Dino Roumel said postgame that he wants his team to get into playoff mode and believes they are getting to that point. “I thought our pitchers did a good job… Edgar Garcia looked like a big-leaguer out there… It was fun to watch.”
Friday, August 8
In the second game in a row, the Royals played another potential playoff team in the London Majors. They travelled down the 401 to take them on on the road.
London jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning, but Guelph scored two of their own in the top of the third. Thanks to a Garrett Takamatsu triple that scored Franklin Torres and Morro, Guelph tied the game with just one swing of the bat.
London answered back, then extended the lead by two in the fourth inning. Down 5-2, Guelph battled back with another Takamatsu RBI that scored Torres. With a man on second and third in the bottom of the sixth, Andy Leader delivered a one-out single that scored Williams from third base. In the next at bat, Torres smacked a moonshot of a home run over the trees in left field that scored Jordan Gallo and Leader.
With a 7-5 lead, London was able to get one run back but Guelph pitching shut things down in the ninth to secure their second straight win.
Saturday, August 9
Back in Guelph on Saturday, the Royals took on the league-best Welland Jackfish.
Welland jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning and extended to 3-0 in the fifth inning, and that was all that was needed for the win.
Despite eight strikeouts from Brandon Deans, Custodio and Nelson Mercado, Welland was able to come out on top.
Sunday, August 10
Guelph travelled down to Brantford Sunday afternoon for a matinee with the Red Sox.
Pina got Guelph on the board in the third with a sacrifice fly that scored Ashton Patterson from third base. Brantford scored two in the bottom of the sixth to take a 2-1 lead.
Guelph tied things up in the ninth inning thanks to a single from Morro that scored Patterson from second base and some heads up baserunning. Garcia retired the side in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras.
In the tenth, Takamatsu was hit by a pitch in the leadoff spot and advanced to first. Topolie grounded out in the next at bat but it advanced Pina to third, who started on second base, and Takamatsu to second. Now with one out and two in scoring position, Hammond delivered a clutch single that scored the runners and put Guelph up 4-2.
But Brantford was able to match in the bottom of the tenth and eventually score the winning run on a slow moving play up the first base line.
Up Next
Guelph takes on Hamilton twice this week - on Tuesday at home and Friday on the road - before we Pack the Park on Saturday for our final regular season game.
Admission to Saturday’s game is FREE and hot dogs will only be $2. We want to see everyone at Hastings Stadium on Saturday to Pack the Park!