Cardinals eliminate Barnstormers

HAMILTON – Hamilton is moving on.  

Seven Cardinals’ players drove in a run, and the team belted out 20 hits on Tuesday in a 15-4 home win over Chatham-Kent in Game 4 of the best-of-five quarter-final. Hamilton, the playoffs’ fifth seed, took the series 3-1 and will face Welland or Guelph in the semifinal.  

Jaden Brown went 3-for-4 with three RBI for the Cards, and Tanner Rempel also drove in three. Yolki Pena, Niko Kekatos and Jommer Hernandez drove in two apiece, Tyler Duncan and Russell Young both had three hits and an RBI, Brandon Nicoll singled twice and scored three times, and Carlos Dominguez went 3-for-6.  

Hamilton scored 13 runs in the first three innings, which benefitted starting pitcher Owen Boon (2-0), who struck out seven over six shutout innings. He scattered five hits and walked one.  

Barnstormers’ pitcher Mizuki Akatsuka (0-2) was pulled with two outs in the second inning. He was charged with 11 runs (four earned thanks to two errors) on nine hits.  

Owen Constantineau and Sadler Goodwin drove in Chatham-Kent's runs. Yushin Ohta singled three times, and Mitsuki Fukada singled twice.