By Staff
June 19th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Eight games in 11 days proved to be too much for the InterCounty Baseball League Toronto Maple Leafs – they lost 6-1 to the Burlington Herd Sunday afternoon at Christie Pits.
Christian Hauck went seven innings on the mound for Burlington (5-9) to pick up his first win of the season. The Leafs (7-9) managed 10 hits and three walks off the Burlington starter, but Hauck got the big outs when he needed them.
Early rainouts have forced IBL teams to condense their make-up games into a small window. Toronto opened the week Monday at home against Kitchener before hitting the road for stops in Hamilton and Barrie on Tuesday and Thursday.
The Leafs won in Guelph Saturday, but looked like a weary team when they hit the diamond Sunday.
Toronto starting pitcher Zach Sloan got into trouble early and the Herd made him pay. Struggling to find the strike zone early in counts, Burlington opened the scoring in the top of the first when Cooper Lamb’s single brought home Canice Ejoh.
Cooper Lamb added his second RBI of the afternoon.
Burlington added runs in the second and third innings, before Justin Marra cut the lead to 3-1 when he drilled a Hauck pitch over the right-field fence for his fourth home run of the season.
The Herd would get that back and more in the top of the fourth inning when it scored three times off Sloan. John Whaley drilled a two-run single and Lamb added his second RBI of the afternoon with a sacrifice fly that scored Ejoh.
Sloan would pitch one more inning before being relieved by Marek Deska in the top of the sixth, with Toronto trailing 6-1. Sloan gave up six earned runs on nine hits and three walks, while striking out two in five innings of work.
Whaley had a big day at the plate for the Herd, going 4-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored.
Julian Johnson and Justin Marra led the Leafs with a pair of hits each.
