Brantford Red Sox Week 2 Wrap Up

Friday May 26 - London Majors 13 Brantford Red Sox 5

Brantford (0-2) opened the weekend with a matchup against the 2x defending champion London Majors (0-3). Both teams were seeking their first win of the young IBL season.

Brantford started off strong with a Jesse Fishbaum lead off triple. Jon Dzomba brought him home with a sac fly and Brantford took an early 1-0 lead. The Red Sox continued to take advantage of struggling Majors starter Abdiel Velazquez, adding on a 2nd run via wild pitch in the 2nd inning to go up 2-0.

London found the scoreboard with 1 run in the 4th, but Brantford fired back with a pair of response runs in the 5th via a 2 run blast by Dziomba to grab a 4-1 lead. Red Sox starter Jeremias Sucre meanwhile was cruising, holding the Majors to just 1 run on 5 hits through 5 innings. It appeared Brantford had things well in hand, and may deal London a surprising 4th straight loss to open their season. 

But then the Majors awoke in the 6th inning. A lead off home run rattled Sucre, and the visitors piled on from there. The Red Sox defense crumbled, responding to each Majors hit with an error. When the inning was finally over Sucre was out of the game, and the Majors had taken a 7-4 lead. 

It was all London from that point on, adding on 5 more runs in the 7th and rallying all the way back to earn the 13-5 win. 

Bright spots for Brantford were Fishbaum, who continued his strong start to the season going 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored, and Dziomba who went 1 for 3 with 3 RBI.

Saturday May 27 - Toronto Maple Leafs 16 Brantford Red Sox 5

Brantford (0-3)  looked to bounce back on Saturday night, but had a tough task facing the 1st place Toronto Maple Leafs (4-1). 

Game details were not available on Pointstreak as of press time of this story, but Saturday night's game followed much of the same pattern as Friday's. Brantford held their own until the 6th inning, then the visiting team pulled away. Final score was Toronto 16 Brantford 5.

Sunday May 28 - Brantford Red Sox 0 London Majors 11

The Red Sox wrapped up the week with a Sunday afternoon rematch against the Majors. One of the quirks of this year's IBL schedule has the two teams meeting 3 times in the first 2 weeks of the season, and then not again until a trio of games in August. At the rate the season series is going so far that might be for the best.

To say Brantford starter Christian Herrera had a bad day is an understatement. In 7 batters faced he yielded a single, a  double, hit 2 batters, and gave up 2 home runs, while recording just one out. Red Sox Manager Shawn Whiteley wisely gave Herrera the quick hook and went to the bullpen, but not before Brantford trailed 4-0 after 1 inning.

Danny Howat did an admirable job in last-minute relief, going 4.2 innings, striking out 6 while allowing 4 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits. Brantford's bats did not help out their pitching staff on this day however, managing just 6 hits and stranding 5 runners. Brantford gets shutout by the 2x defending champs, final score was 11-0.

week 3 preview

The Brantford Red Sox will need to quickly regroup, with 4 games in the upcoming week (3 on the road):

• Tuesday May 30 at Guelph Royals  7:30 pm
• Thursday June 1 at Welland 7:25 pm
• Friday June 2 at London Majors 7:35 pm
• Sunday June 4 vs. Welland Jackfish 2 pm. The Red Sox return home for their first matinee home game of the season on Lansdowne Children's Centre Appreciation Day. Fans who make a donation to Lansdowne at the ballpark will receive a voucher for half-priced admission to a future Brantford Red Sox game!  

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.