Four-run eighth sparks Royals rally

GUELPH – A four-run eighth sparked the Guelph Royals’ rally over the Kitchener Panthers Saturday afternoon at David E. Hastings Stadium.

Trailing 12-9, Josh Garton’s double plated a pair of Royals to make it a one-run game. Tony Hyrnkiw followed with a single to score Malik Collymore, and Garton put the Royals ahead when he scored on Ethan Hammond’s two-out base hit to cap a 13-12 win.

Royals reliever Brandon Deans worked around a pair of walks in the ninth to earn his first save of the season. Deans struck out one and induced a groundout to strand the tying run on second.

Ben Reid (1-0) earned the win, giving up four runs on four hits over two innings. He walked five and struck out two. Emilis Guerrero started and went six innings, allowing eight runs on 13 hits with five strikeouts.

Offensively, Garton also hit one of three Guelph home runs and finished with four RBI and scored four times. Collymore went 2-for-3 with a solo blast and four runs, and Conner Morro homered and drove in two. Hyrnkiw drove in two and Hammond had a pair of hits and two RBI. Dalton Pompey scored twice.

For Kitchener, Dreyden Sloat went 3-for-5 with his first home run, three RBI and two runs. Blake Jacklin went 4-for-5 with three RBI, Keegan Marsden, Stephen Whalen and Dan Mahoney all had two hits, two runs and an RBI and Robbie Gauthier went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run.

Andy Leader (0-1) took the loss, giving up two runs, two walks and two hits in two-thirds of an inning. Christian Hauck started and went four innings, allowing eight runs (five earned) on five hits over four innings. He walked three and fanned four.

Guelph improved to 4-3, and Kitchener fell to 2-4.