September 7, 2019

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

The Kitchener Panthers are talented enough that they could make an improbable comeback and win the Intercounty Baseball League championship.

But the Barrie Baycats are still in the driver's seat as they hunt their sixth consecutive league title.

Despite being down 3-0 in their best-of-seven series with the Baycats, the Panthers have come back to life by winning the last two games, forcing a sixth game tonight, beginning at 7, at Jack Couch Park in Kitchener. A Panthers' win tonight would force Game 7 at Coates Park in Barrie Sunday night.

The Panthers actually had their fingers on victories in the first two games by taking 4-0 leads but the Baycats came back to win 7-4 and 6-4. Barrie won Game 3 by an easy 8-2 count and then Kitchener bounced back with 5-1 and 6-5 wins.

The 6-5 thriller went 11 innings with Yoen Socarras, a starting pitcher, entering the game to protect a 6-4 lead. He gave up a home run to Kevin Atkinson but was able to keep Barrie from tying up the game.

"It's two ball clubs battling hard,'' Kitchener general manager Mike Boehmer said in an interview. "At the conclusion of Thursday's four-plus hour game, in which we used eight pitchers, many fans said it was the most exciting game they have ever witnessed. We expect a very large crowd tonight.''

Boehmer said Socarras will start tonight's game and Barrie field manager and GM Angus Roy said he will counter with Adrian Salcedo.

"I am looking forward to tonight’s game,'' Roy said. "I'm very interested to see how our group responds. Game 5 was a lot of fun and what we expected in this series. Two quality baseball teams battling on every pitch. We feel good about where we are in the series. We just need to play a little cleaner tonight.''

There are many hitters to watch out for tonight because they are hot. Barrie's Ryan Spataro is hitting .500 over three playoff series after going 4-for-6 Thursday night. Teammate Kyle DeGrace has a league-leading 17 RBI in post-season play. Teammates Starlin Rodriguez and regular season Triple Crown winner Jordan Castaldo follow with 16 ribbies each. Kitchener's Brian Burton has five homers and 15 RBI.