ESTABLISHED 1911
15X IBL CHAMPIONS
ESTABLISHED 1911 • 15X IBL CHAMPIONS
menuMay 23 - Red Sox at Jackfish
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Brantford Red Sox at Welland Jackfish
May 23, 2019 - Welland Stadium
The Brantford Red Sox made their inaugural visit to Welland to face the Jackfish for the first time ever (the two teams were previously scheduled to play in Brantford for our 2019 home opener which was rained out). This is Welland's first season in the IBL, having relocated from Burlington where they were previously known as the Herd/Bandits/Twins.
Mike Bannon made his third start for Brantford, coming into the game with one win (11-7 opening day in Toronto) and one no decision (in an 12-11 extra innings loss in London). Former Brantford Red Sox Euclides Leyer took the mound for Welland.
Welland got a runner on in the first, but Bannon and catcher Fernando Suarez combined on a strike 'em out, throw 'em out to end the inning. They loaded the bases early on with no outs in the 2nd inning, and Brantford managed to limit the damage to a pair of runs. Welland led 2-0 after 2 innings.
After Welland added single runs in the 4th and 5th innings, Brantford finally answered back in the 6th. Matt McGovern, Toure Parpit-Sinclair and Anthonly Rizquez all got on base to start the inning. Rhys Cornell then brought in McGovern, and Suarez drove in Nick Burdett. Chris Iltshishin then brought home Rizquez to round out the Red Sox scoring. Welland led 4-3 after 6 innings.
Victor Mueses came in to relieve Bannon in the 7th inning. After getting into some initial trouble walking the bases loaded, the Sox managed to escape only yielding a single run. The Jackfish added another single run in the 8th, and led 6-3 heading into the 9th .
Brantford looked to rally in their last at bats but were unable to send any additional runs across the plate, and the Jackfish sent their hometown fans home happy with a 6-3 win.
Brantford Red Sox are next in action Saturday May 25, visiting the Barrie Baycats for a 2pm start. The Red Sox have spots on the bus available for fans wanting to take the trip up to Barrie, see today's earlier post for details. Brantford rounds out the week back at home, hosting the Kitchener Panthers on Sunday May 26th in a 2pm start.