Barrie Baycats are the 2014 Dominico Trophy Champions
LONDON, ON -The Barrie Baycats hoisted the Dominico Trophy Friday night after sweeping the London Majors in four games to capture their first IBL championship since 2005. The Baycats took Game 4 by a score of 5-3 in London.
After two scoreless innings to start the game, Barrie scored in the top of the third when Kevin Atkinson’s single drove in Kyle DeGrace making it 1-0 Barrie. In the top of the fifth, Jordan Castaldo scored from third on a passed ball to put Barrie up by two runs. London answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it 2-1 when Paul Young drove in Derrik Strzalkowski with a two-out single.
The Baycat’s Ryan Spataro hit his second home run of the playoffs in the top of the sixth, a two-run blast with one out making the score 4-1. Barrie scored it’s fifth and final run in the seventh inning when Jeremy Walker drove in Steve Lewis with one out to make it a 5-1 game.
London fought to the bitter end and after Jon Celetino struck out for the first out, the Majors began to mount a comeback. Adam Rowe, who had been nearly untouchable to that point surrendered three hits to the next three batters before being replaced by Adam Hawes. With the bases loaded Paul Young drove in Strzalkowski to cut the lead to 5-2. The next hitter, Ryan Lapensee, hit a sacrifice fly scoring Paul Lytwynec to make it 5-3. Hawes struck out Chris Dennis swinging to clinch the game and the championship for the Baycats.
Rowe, who was named Dominico Playoff MVP, earned the win going 8 1/3 innings, scattering nine hits while striking out six and walking just three. He allowed three runs while throwing 134 pitches, 74 for strikes. Rowe led the IBL playoffs in wins with three, strikeouts with 28 and finished with a 2.50 postseason ERA.
Deinys Suarez took the loss allowing five runs on nine hits and five walks over seven innings. Suarez finished the postseason with a respectable 3.47 ERA.
The Baycat’s playoff attack was led by Jordan Castaldo, hitting .436, Ryan Spataro, hitting .385, and Kevin Atkinson who had 10 RBI in the postseason.
The Major’s playoff run was driven by Paul Young, with a .396 average, Strzalkowski who hit .419 and Ryan Lapensee who finished second in RBI with 13.
While the Majors season didn’t end the way they had hoped, it was a successful run with a regular season record of 23-13 good for second place and a first round bye. They finished the year with a combined 27-20 record including the playoffs
For Barrie, it was the perfect ending to a near perfect season. The Baycats won the pennant with a regular season record of 30-6, finishing with an overall record of 38-9 including the playoffs. The Dominico Trophy added the final touch on one of the best IBL seasons any team has had in recent memory.
Dominico Trophy Finals (Best of 7) Barrie wins 4-0
Game 1: Barrie 5 London 2
Game 2: Barrie 3 London 2 (10 innings)
Game 3: Barrie 12 London 2
Game 4: Barrie 5 London 3