The Barrie Baycats were on top of the Intercounty Baseball League over the weekend.
The Baycats defeated the Guelph Royals on Saturday night by a score of 6-2, taking the championship final in four straight.
It is the first Dominico Cup title for Barrie since 2019, which capped a run of six straight IBL championships. Most of the veterans who were part of those title runs have either retired, moved on or, like Royals shortstop Connor Morro and infielder Carson Burns, are playing for other IBL teams.
“You’re left with empty cupboards,” said Baycats president, manager and general manager Josh Matlow who took over the team after the 2019 season.
“We had a lot of work to do but we’re up for the challenge. We said we wanted to be a competitor fairly early and a lot of the guys bought into it.”
Barrie scored three times in the third inning off Royals starter Drew Durst for a 3-0 lead. Designated hitter Ryan Rijo had an RBI single in that inning, one of his four hits and two runs driven in on the night.
The Baycats extended the lead in the sixth inning with two mores runs on an RBI single off the bat of catcher Hayden Jaco and an RBI groundout from third baseman Adam Odd.
The Royals finally got on the board in the eighth. Down 6-0, Morro scored on a sacrifice fly by DH Ethan Hammond to make it 6-1 for Barrie.
Guelph scored one more in the ninth off reliever Brad Grieveson. Grieveson then got catcher Franklin Torres to fly out to Kyle Maves in right field to end the game and begin their celebration.
“The guys stuck together, they locked in when it counted,” said Matlow. “This is the most relentless, greatest human beings I’ve ever met.”
Baycats left-hander Frank Garces, who threw eight innings giving up a run and striking out four in the clinching game, was named the playoff MVP.
For the Royals, it marked an end to a season where they started out strong and coasted to the playoffs reaching the championship final for the first time since 2004.
“I thought we had a talented team, we had a great pitching staff, but ultimately we just got beat by a team who were much better than us,” said Royals manager Dino Roumel.
“Ultimately our goal was to win a championship. I couldn’t bring them to that level but I was real proud of the job they did. They did Guelph proud and they did the Royals proud.”
For veteran first baseman Josh Garton, who had been battling an injury throughout the playoffs, Saturday’s game may have been the last time he stepped on to the field at Hastings Stadium. The 36-year-old took to the field for warm ups before the start of the eighth inning but was replaced by infielder Arthur Kowara.
Garton left the field to a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd, and handshakes and hugs from his teammates.