Garton goes deep as Royals hand Jackfish first loss

GUELPH – Josh Garton had four hits, including his third home run of the season, and the Guelph Royals handed the Welland Jackfish its first loss of 2022 Tuesday night.

Garton opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single and came around to score two batters later on Noah Roberts’ two-run base hit. Guelph’s Darius Barlas drove in a run later in the first inning, and the Royals (3-3) didn’t look back in a 9-5 victory.

Garton homered with Sean Reilly on base in the fourth. Reilly went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs, J.D. Williams drove in a run and swiped a bag, Malik Collymore singled, doubled and scored twice and Ethan Hammond added a pair of hits.

Claudio Custodio struck out 11 over seven innings to move to 2-0. He allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and walked a pair.

Gianfranco Morello drove in a run and scored twice, Sam Cawker had an RBI, run and two steals, Brandon Nicholson picked up an RBI and scored and Matt Hilderbrandt added an RBI.

Brett Lawson (0-1) took the loss. He was charged with eight runs on 10 hits over 3.1 innings. He struck out two and didn’t issue a walk.

Welland fell to 5-1.