Leafs come back to defeat Jackfish
WELLAND – The Toronto Maple Leafs roared back from a seven-run deficit to defeat the Welland Jackfish 15-10 Saturday on the road in Game 1 of their semifinal series.
Trailing 9-2 after four innings, the Leafs scored six times in the fifth and took the lead with three more runs in the seventh. Toronto put the game away with a four-run ninth.
Jose Vinicio went 5-for-7 with a home run and two RBI to lead the Leafs. Justin Marra singled twice and homered and drove in four, Marcus Knecht went 3-for-6 with a home run and two RBI, Damon Topolie turned back the clock with two singles and a double and two RBI, Johnathan Solazzo drove in a run on three hits, Greg Carrington had an RBI and Connor Lewis had two hits and scored twice.
Marek Deska (1-0) struck out two over 2.2 innings of scoreless relief for the win. He took over from Angel Castro, who was pulled with one out in the fourth after giving up nine runs (six earned) on 12 hits. He struck out eight.
For Welland, Justin Gideon homered and drove in two, while Matteo Porcellato singled and added a solo home run. Mattingly Romanin and Hogan Brown each had two hits and two RBI, James Smibert drove in one and scored twice and Sam Cawker went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Chris Boatto (0-1) took the loss, allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and strikeout over 1.2 innings of relief. Jake Harford started and went 4.2 innings, giving up eight runs on 10 hits with a walk and three strikeouts.