By Staff
May 28th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
The Burlington Herd continue to struggle out of the gate as they fell 12-3 to the Kitchener Panthers Sunday afternoon in Kitchener.
Matt McCue was Burlington’s best player at the plate with three hits including a home run. Justin Gideon also had a decent day with three hits including a double.
The Panthers blew the game open with six runs in the bottom of the eighth. The Herd are now 0-6 while the Panthers improved to 5-2.
Noelvis Entenza picked up the win for the Panthers pitching into the seventh inning and scattering six hits.
The Panthers used five pitchers en route to the victory while Rich Corrente went seven innings en route to the loss.
Keegan Marsden led the offence with a double, two home runs and four RBI for the Panthers. Brian Burton also homered.
Elsewhere in the league the London Majors gave the IBL champions a taste of defeat.
The Barrie Baycats entered Sunday’s game in London on a 13-game win streak, including a 4-0 start to this season.
The London Majors ended the streak in convincing fashion, thumping the Baycats 10-4 and were ahead 10-1 entering the ninth. The Baycats fell to 4-1 and the Majors are now 4-3.
The Majors rode a seven-run second inning to victory, sending 11 men to the plate. Edward Salcedo had a home run for London while Cleveland Brownlee, Mike Ambrose and Chris McQueen had doubles.
Ryan Rijo had two hits for Barrie, including a home run.
Dylan Brooks tossed seven innings for the win, giving up just three hits and a walk. Matthew St. Kitts took the loss, failing to get out of the second inning.
In Toronto, the Hamilton Cardinals overcame a 3-0 deficit with six runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh en route to a 10-8 win over the Maple Leafs at Christie Pits.
The Maple Leafs made a game of it scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Designated hitter Jake Chiaravalle had a day for the Cardinals banging out four hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs. Connor Bowie also had three hits for the Cardinals and also drove in three runs.
Justin Marra had two hits for the Leafs including his fifth home run. Johnathan Solazzo had two hits, including a double.
Josh Freeman recorded the win on the hill for Hamilton and Zach Sloan took the loss.
The Cardinals are 2-2 and the Maple Leafs are 5-2.
Mattingly Romanin, 25, joins the Herd after being selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 39th round of the 2015 MLB Draft. Splitting the 2017 season with the Blue Jays’ Single-A affiliate clubs the Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League and the Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League, Romanin collected 36 hits, 13 doubles, 17 RBI, and two stolen bases over 57 games played, winning the Northwest League Championship with Vancouver. The hometown product graduated from Notre Dame High School in Burlington and spent time with the Ontario Terriers before committing to Chicago State University. In his time at the NCAA Division-1 school from 2012-15, Romanin became the team’s all-time leader in hits (224), RBI (118), and doubles (41), while also earning 2013 All-GWC (Great West Conference) First Team and 2014 All-WAC (Western Athletic Conference) Second Team All-Star honours. Slated to primarily play shortstop for the Herd, the 5-foot-10, right-handed infielder returns to the IBL after spending brief stints in Burlington during the 2012 season and with the Guelph Royals during the 2015 campaign. In his previous appearances in the league, Romanin had a .304 AVG while registering 17 hits, three doubles, six RBI, and 14 runs scored over 15 total games played.
The Guelph Royals did what the Burlington Herd have yet to do – win a baseball game so far this season. Single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings led the Guelph Royals to their first win of the season, a 3-2 win over the Red Sox in Brantford.
It was a back-and-forth battle as Guelph led 2-0 then gave up two runs in the bottom of the eighth.
In the ninth, Brendan Keys led off with a single and went to second after Toure Sinclair was hit by a pitch. Josh Garton walked on four pitches to load the bases and then Sean Reilly hit into a fielders’ choice that scored the winning run.
Reilly had three hits for the Royals and Sinclair had two.
Catcher Ricky Murray had a career day for the Red Sox with four hits and Blake Kauer had a double.
Stefan Strecker suffered the loss in relief for the Red Sox, who are now 0-3. Yunior Yambatis got the win.
