NEWS RELEASE
INTERCOUNTY BASEBALL LEAGUE
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TORONTO – The Hamilton Cardinals built an early seven-run lead and then held off a late Toronto rally to beat the Maple Leafs 8-6 Wednesday night at Christie Pits.
Hamilton led 8-1 after six innings, but the Leafs chipped away with one run in the seventh and four in the eighth. Cards reliever Kelvin Pichardo entered the game and picked up his first save by striking out five in 1.2 innings. He walked one and allowed a hit.
Zackary Gonzalez (1-2) earned the win with four strikeouts in 6.2 innings. He yielded two runs on five hits with a walk.
Jake Foden hit a three-run homer to lead Hamilton's offence. Chris Beer, Laine Renault and Connor Patterson all went deep with solo blasts.
The Cardinals improved to 11-12.
For Toronto (9-15), Jonathan Solazzo homered twice and drove in five. Damon Topolie had the other RBI, and Marcus Knecht went 1-for-3 with two runs.
Marek Deska took the loss, giving up seven runs (six earned) on eight hits over four innings. He walked one and struck out eight.
Red Sox win second straight
BRANTFORD – After enduring a 20-game losing streak, the Brantford Red Sox have won two straight.
The Red Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to rally past the London Majors in a 6-5 victory Wednesday night at Arnold Anderson Stadium.
With one out, Jesse Fishbaum and Doug Parks walked, and Nic Burdett reached on an error to load the bases. Chris Iltshishin cleared them with a double to give the Red Sox its third win of the season (3-20).
Austin Wilkie went 2-for-4 with an RBI, a run and two steals, and Nick Zarzycki drove in a pair. Burdett had two hits.
Mike Mueller (1-0) picked up the win with a scoreless ninth as he pitched around a walk.
Matt McGovern started and went 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with a walk and three strikeouts.
London's Ismael Pena (1-3) took the loss, giving up three runs (two earned) on one hit with two walks in one-third of an inning.
Pena took over from Owen Boon, who went the first eight innings and surrendered three runs on nine hits with four walks and 10 punchouts.
Offensively, Cleveland Brownlee went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Carlos Arteaga singled three times, and Josh Williams drove in the other run.
London dropped to 13-14.
Future games:
Thursday, July 11
Hamilton at Guelph, 7:30 p.m.
Toronto at Kitchener, 7:30 p.m.
Brantford at Welland, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, July 12
Toronto at Barrie, 7:30 p.m.
Brantford at Hamilton, 7:30 p.m.
Kitchener at London, 7:35 p.m.
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