COBA Week VII: Brampton, Cleland, Habibi

Brampton Royals RHP Brandon Habibi pitched seven innings allowing one run in a win over the Oakville A's.

By Dan Estey
Canadian Baseball Network
Week 7 was a fairly quiet week for a lot of COBA Major League clubs as five teams were going to be attending the Vaughan Vikings Invitational Tournament that weekend to take part in the 14-team event. 

The Brampton Royals were one of the teams attending the tournament and they had their final tune-up game Monday night as they took on the Oakville A’s at Oakville Park. 

The Royals jumped on Oakville starter Curtis Braun early in this one as they put up two runs in the third inning to take an early 2-0 lead. They would expand upon that lead in the fifth as they touched up Braun for five more runs building a 7-0 lead and chasing Braun from the game. Gord Robertson replaced Braun on the mound and even though he escaped the 5th inning the Royals got to him in the 6th inning scoring three more runs and building a commanding 10-0 lead. 

Oakville finally got on the board in the seventh inning as they scored a single run off of Brampton starter and Week 7 Pitcher of the Week Brandon Habibi to make the score 10-1 and extend the game. Habibi exited the game after the seventh with an excellent line: zero runs on three hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Joey Nonis came on in relief in the eighth inning and the A’s started to make things interesting as they put up four runs that inning to cut the deficit to 10-5.

After a scoreless top of the ninth, Oakville was right back at it again getting base runners on and put up two more runs to cut into the Royals lead further. Alas, RJ Page shut the door on the A’s rally making the final score 10-7 Brampton. 

Marco DiRoma lead the way at the plate going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, a run, and two walks. 3B Ryan Thompson was 2-for-3 with two singles, two RBIs and a stolen base while Ricky James was 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. 

Player of the Week for Week 7 -- SS Kevin Cleland of the Etobicoke Rangers
Cleland only played in one game during this week which was an 18-8 mercy shortened victory for the Rangers. For his week, he was 3-for-5 (.600) with two singles and a double. He scored three runs while collecting four RBIs as well to cap off his productive game.

Cleland is now hitting .313 (21 for 67) for his season with four doubles. He has scored 13 runs and has also collected 13 RBI thus far.

Hononable Mention
Courtney Morales (Oakville A’s)
2 Games, .500 Avg, 6 AB, 3 Hits, 1 Single, 1 Double, 1 Triple, 3 RBI

Marco DiRoma (Brampton Royals)
1 Game, .750 Avg, 4 AB, 3 Hits, 3 Singles, 1 RBI, 1 Run, 1 Walk

Pitcher of the Week RHP Brandon Habibi of the Brampton Royals.
Habibi had one appearance this week on the road as he led the Royals to a 10-7 victory over the Oakville A’s. In this game, he went seven innings allowing one run (earned) while allowing only three hits. He walked only one batter while striking out four in collecting the win.

Habibi now sits at 2-1 on the season with a 4.50 ERA. In his 20 innings of work, he has allowed 14 runs (10 earned) on 17 hits while collecting 14 strikeouts and seven walks. 

Hononable Mention
Damian Clarke (Milton Red Sox)
1 Game, 1 Win, 0 Losses, 7 Innings, 7 Hits, 2 Runs, 1 Earned Run, 1.29 ERA, 4 Walks, 5 Ks

Jordan Petruska (Mississauga SW Twins)
1 Game, 1 Win, 0 Losses, 3 1/3 Innings, 2 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 Earned Runs, 0.00 ERA, 1 Walks, 1 Ks

Linescores
Monday, June 13th
Greg Cranker Field   R   H   E
Etobicoke Rangers    18    17    3
Erindale Cardinals    8    8    5
Winning Pitcher – Kyle Angelow. Losing Pitcher – Andrew Mullin
HR – Kyle Bowers (Etobicoke)

Oakville Park R   H   E
Brampton Royals    10    11    1
Oakville A’s    7    9    0
Winning Pitcher – Brandon Habibi. Losing Pitcher – Curtis Braun

Tuesday
Clarkson Park R   H   E
Milton Red Sox    3    7    2
Mississauga SW Twins    7    8    1
Winning Pitcher – Jordan Petruska. Losing Pitcher – Justin Volpato

Wednesday
Mississauga South West Twins at Burlington Brants -- ppd rain

Thursday
George Taylor Field R   H   E
Oakville A’s    3    6    3
Niagara Metros    6    15    0
Winning Pitcher – Brian Kusey. Losing Pitcher – Alex Hawley

Saturday
Milton Sports Complex R   H   E
Niagara Metros    2    8    0
Milton Red Sox    3    9    0
Winning Pitcher – Damian Clarke. Losing Pitcher – Geoff Strong. Save – Dan Todoschuck