Brantford Red Sox Week 10 Wrap Up

Gus Wilson & Kieran Bowles make a new friend at Brant County SPCA NIght , July 21

Tuesday JULY 18 - BRANTFORD RED SOX 4 GUELPH ROYALS 8

The Brantford Red Sox (5-22) opened the week with a home & home series at the Guelph Royals (8-16).  The Red Sox grabbed a 2-0 lead in the 3rd inning courtesy of a Gus Wilson home run, but an uncharacteristically bad inning for Isaiah Ramos resulted in a 7 run 4th and a 7-2 Royals lead.

Brantford attempted to rally in the 8th inning, scoring 2 but failing to capitalize further with bases loaded and no outs. Final score was 8-4 Guelph. 

Lacklustre night for Brantford's bats with only 6 total hits. Christian Kuzemka led the offence going 2 for 4. 

Friday JULY 21 - GUELPH ROYALS 4 BRANTFORD RED SOX 12

The Red Sox and Royals should be quite familiar with each other by now, having played 3 times in the past week. But Brantford would be full of surprises tonight. 

Brantford sent recently signed 6 foot 6 left hander Quincy Jones to the mound in his first career IBL start (he made a relief appearance in Guelph on Tuesday). After retiring the side in the 1st, the Red Sox bats then gave Jones a comfortable lead to protect. Brantford batted around in the 1st inning, scoring 7, and added on an insurance run in the 2nd to take a 9-0 lead. 

As Jones continued to retire Royals batters, the Red Sox added to their lead. Brantford took a commanding 12-0 lead after 5 innings, and never looked back. Guelph rallied briefly in the 9th, but Brantford hung on for the 12-4 win. 

Jones was credited with the win, allowing just 4 hits over 6 shutout innings, striking out 4 and walking 1. An all around great effort by Brantford's offence with almost every member of the starting lineup reaching base at least once. Gus Wilson led the way, going 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. Jeremie Veilleux hit his team-leading 3rd home run of the season. And congratulations to Jr. call-up Jake Lupton who pitched for the first time since August 2022 as he works his way back from injury. 

YOUTUBE REPLAY |  PHOTO GALLERY

Saturday JULY 22 - HAMILTON CARDINALS 6 BRANTFORD RED SOX 10

Brantford (5-23) wrapped their 4 game homestand hosting the Hamilton Cardinals (14-12). And for the second time this season, the Red Sox would shock many doubters by putting together back to back home wins.

Danny Howat turned in another quality start for Brantford, giving the Red Sox bullpen some much needed relief (more on that in a bit) by going 7 complete innings. Howat also gave Brantford's bats some room to manoeuvre by surrendering just 2 runs on 7 hits, striking out 4 and earning his 2nd win of the season.  

The Red Sox bullpen continues to be a cause for concern however, with newly signed Brian Williams only managing to get one Cards batter out while yielding a pair of runs on 2 hits, a walk, and a balk. Kyle Nash fared no better following up Williams, walking 2 straight to surrender another run to Hamilton. Brantford was then forced to again go to starter-turned-emergency-spot-reliever Isaiah Ramos who effectively cleaned things up, getting the next 5 outs (including a bases-loaded strikeout to end the game) to secure the 10-6 win for Brantford. 

Gus Wilson led the way at the plate, going 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. Kieran Bowles and Lucas Bateman each had a pair of hits. 

YOUTUBE REPLAY | PHOTO GALLERY

Sunday JULY 23 - BRANTFORD RED SOX 5 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 12

The Red Sox (6-23) visited the Toronto Maple Leafs (13-14) to wrap the week. Weather has not been kind to this particular matchup this season, with 2 rain-related cancellations already at Arnold Anderson Stadium. The trend would now continue at Christie Pits, with the teams playing 1 inning of scoreless baseball before rain paused the game for just over an hour. 

When the game resumed, Brantford kept things close trailing just 5-3 after 5 innings, but then Toronto stepped on the gas and didn't look back. The Maple Leafs scored 6 in the 6th on their way to an eventual 12-5 win. 

Brantford starter Danny Garcia went 4.2 innings and was charged with the loss, giving up 5 runs on 6 hits. Brian Williams fared no better in relief on Sunday than he did on Saturday, giving up 2 runs on 2 walks while getting just 1 out. And Toronto roughed up Saturday's closer Isaiah Ramos (in his third appearance this week, being utilized today in middle relief), striking for 4 runs on 3 hits in an inning of work. 

Brantford's bats were held quiet after the previous 2 games of offensive explosion. Matt Fabian, Gus Wilson, and Christian Kuzemka contributed most of Brantford's 8 total team hits with a pair each. And Nick Burdett's unfortunate drought at the plate continues. Although reaching base on a walk today and driving in a run, the veteran slugger has just 1 hit in his last 13 games and currently sports a .117 batting average.

Week 11 Preview

A lighter schedule (and a rare weekend off) lies ahead for Brantford this week:

• Thursday July 27 at Kitchener Panthers, 7:30 pm Jack Couch Park
• Friday July 28 vs. Barrie Baycats, 8 pm Arnold Anderson Stadium. Brantford Minor Baseball Association night, BMBA players in jerseys receive free admission, accompanying family members receive half price admission.
• The IBL signing deadline is on Monday July 24. Neil Srivastava's Around the IBL has a good explanation of how the deadline works and impacts team rosters. 

Schedule notes

In case you missed it, Brantford's July 15 rained out game hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs will be made up on the Civic Holiday, Monday August 7 at 2 pm. And mark your calendars, Friday August 11 is Brant Beacon night at the ballpark. Our media partners the Brant Beacon will be giving out Red Sox rally towels to all fans in attendance!

The Brantford Red Sox were founded in 1911 and have won 15 Intercounty Baseball League titles.  Digital single game tickets, flex packs, and season passes are available online at brantfordredsox.com/tickets. 

Read about the Red Sox in the Brant Beacon, the official media partner of the Brantford Red Sox, and follow @IBLRedSox on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Stream all of our home games on our YouTube channel.