Brantford Red Sox Week 5 Wrap Up

FRIDAY JUNE 16 - KITCHENER PANTHERS 16 BRANTFORD RED SOX 6

The Brantford Red Sox (2-10) hosted the Kitchener Panthers (7-6) under the Friday night lights. Speaking of lights, fans arriving at the ballpark were greeted by a welcome sight - new LED lightbulbs in the right field scoreboard. Scenes from a movie were shot at Arnold Anderson Stadium on Thursday, resulting in the upgrade. The team had asked the City of Brantford, owners of Arnold Anderson Stadium, for years for this improvement to take place without success. Hollywood seemed to have better results. 

What the Red Sox do have control over, which also needs an upgrade, is defence. Brantford made an astonishing 9 errors on Friday night (plus a few more plays which could have easily been scored that way), costing them what was a very winnable game. Isaiah Ramos turned in his 2nd straight quality start, striking out 5 Panthers batters over 5.2 innings of total work. Ramos held the Panthers to just 4 runs over the first 5 innings, with the Sox committing 5 errors behind him during that span. Still, the Sox were making a game of it trailing just 4-2 after 5 innings. 

After opening the 6th inning with 2 quick outs, Kitchener knocked Ramos from the game with 3 straight hits scoring another run. Another fielding error led to 4 more unearned runs before the bleeding stopped, and Brantford now trailed 9-2. The Panthers went on to a 16-6 win.

Jesse Fishbaum and Gus Wilson led the way the plate with a trio of hits apiece, including Wilson's first IBL home run. 

SATURDAY JUNE 17 - BRANTFORD RED SOX 11 BARRIE BAYCATS 12 (10 INNINGS)

The Brantford Red Sox had everything going for them early on Saturday in Barrie - capitalizing on struggling Baycats pitching and defence (who ended up committing 8 total errors on the day, just 1 shy of Brantford's Friday night total) to jump to a 7-0 lead after 2 innings. 

Unfortunately, baseball games are played for (at least) 9 innings. Barrie roared back for 5 runs in the 3rd to get back into the game. Brantford responded back with a pair in the 4th to briefly grab a more comfortable 9-5 lead, which was then clawed back to 9-8 by the Baycats in the 6th inning. Brantford scored another pair of insurance runs, but Barrie bested that with a trio which meant extra innings - both teams tied 11-11 after 9. Brantford. failed to score in their first attempt in extras,  Barrie did not. The Sox let another very winnable game slip away from them, and the Baycats take this one 12-11.

Matt Fabian had a monster day at the plate, going 5 for 6 with 3 runs scored. Juan Adames was charged with the loss after walking in the game-winning run (ironically, not a single Brantford Red Sox batter walked all game). 

SUNDAY JUNE 18 - BRANTFORD RED SOX 2 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 12

After Saturday's heartbreaking extra-innings loss in Barrie, the Red Sox limped into Toronto with not much gas left in the tank. And it showed with the Sox putting together just 7 hits and scoring only 2 runs in a 12-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. 

Jeremias Sucre turned in an uncharacteristically ineffective start in front of his hometown crowd, giving up 8 runs (all earned) on 10 hits in 4 innings of work, and was charged with the loss. Nick Burdett had a pair of hits and an RBI for Brantford.

Week 6 Preview

Brantford now has some time to recuperate and regroup with a a trio of games this coming weekend (2 at home): 

• Friday June 23 - Five Dollar Friday: Admission is just $5!  Red Sox vs. Welland 8 pm at Arnold Anderson Stadium
• Saturday June 24 - Red Sox vs. Toronto Maple Leafs, 8 pm at Arnold Anderson Stadium
• Sunday June 25 - Red Sox at Hamilton Cardinals, 2 pm at Bernie Arbour Stadium
• Scheduling note: the Canada Day game hosting Kitchener has been changed to a 2 pm start time.

The Brantford Red Sox were founded in 1911 and have won 15 Intercounty Baseball League titles. Season passes are now available at Brant Sports Excellence, 415 Fairview Drive in Brantford. Digital single game tickets, flex packs, and season passes are also 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.