Sam Dramnitzke of the Elora Mohawks turns up the floor. Dramnitzke had two goals in Elora's loss to Hamilton on Friday night. (Photo by Gar FitzGerald)

 

Mohawks drop Game 1 to Hamilton in OJBLL quarters

 

The Elora Mohawks find themselves in unfamiliar territory after falling to the Hamilton Bengals in the opener of their Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League quarter-final series, 11-9, on Friday night.

 

Hamilton, which finished two points behind Elora for first place in the Midwest Division in the regular season, began the series by scoring three goals within the first three minutes of the game, silencing the crowd in Elora. The Mohawks responded though, scoring five straight times in the next ten minutes to take the 5-3 lead. Sam Dramnitzke and Zack Cameron each had two of the five tallies. Hamilton was able to score twice more, including a goal with two seconds left in the period, to tie the game heading into the second.

 

The Bengals carried that momentum into the second, again opening the period with three consecutive goals. A late flurry saw Nathan Bolger score shorthanded with under two minutes to play, before Hamilton answered back with twenty seconds remaining. Off the ensuing faceoff though, the ball came to Tyler Healey who made no mistake, bringing Elora back to within two.

 

Early in the third period, Elora goals from Cameron and Trent Spear restored the deadlock, but Hamilton's attack prevailed. The Bengals broke the tie soon after and found the insurance marker late, giving them the 11-9 win. Hamilton outshot Elora 53-51 in the game. 

 

The teams are back in action tonight in Hamilton, as Elora looks to even the series at one and retain home floor advantage. Game 3 will be back in Elora on Wednesday night.

 

Panthers trade wins with Barrie, remain tied atop IBL

 

Heading into the Kitchener Panthers' home-and-home weekend series with the Barrie Baycats, the teams were tied for first place in the Intercounty Baseball League. After splitting the two games, they remain tied.

 

On Thursday night in Barrie, the Panthers offense - which had been missing in action lately - showed up in a big way, burying the Baycats, 11-5. Yorbis Borroto, Andy Leader and Mike Andrulis all had two RBI, and Yoennis Yera tossed six innings of two-run ball for the win. Kitchener's statement inning came in the eighth while leading 5-2, as Andrulis cashed Zach Johnson with a double to left, before two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly made the score 9-2 for Kitchener. Barrie's comeback effort fell well short, and the Panthers came home with a huge road victory.

 

On Sunday, the Panthers hosted the Baycats sitting a game clear of them for first place in the IBL, but finished the day again tied for top spot after Barrie stole a 5-3 victory.

Kitchener opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when Tanner Nivins brought home Borroto with an RBI-single, but a three-run homerun by Barrie in the top of the third erased Kitchener's advantage in a hurry. The Panthers got the runs back in the bottom of the fourth, tying the game thanks to a Barrie error and a run scored on a double-play. The score remained tied at three until the top of the sixth inning, when Barrie cashed in two RBI-singles to take back its two-run lead, this time for good. Adrian Salcedo was excellent on the mound for Barrie, throwing a complete game, giving up just two earned runs on six hits. Jasvir Rakkar took the loss for Kitchener.

 

The Panthers can get back into the win column tonight as they visit the London Majors, and will be back home at Jack Couch Park to host Toronto on Thursday night.