Kitchener Panthers right-hander Yoen Socarras delivers a pitch during Thursday night's game versus Toronto. (Photo by Dan Congdon)

Panthers fall out of first place as comeback falls short

The Kitchener Panthers began the last weekend of the Intercounty Baseball League regular season by falling to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night, 4-2. With the loss, the Panthers drop one game behind the Barrie Baycats for first place in the IBL with two games remaining.

The game was scoreless for the first four innings as both starting pitchers gave up only one hit each until the top of the fifth. It was then that Toronto got to Kitchener’s Yoenis Socarras as a single, double, and another single scored two runs to give the Leafs the lead. Brady Schnarr replaced Socarras on the hill for the sixth inning, but gave up three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out. Cooper Lamb stepped up for Toronto and doubled the Leafs’ lead with a two-run double to left field. 

The lead stayed at 4-0 until the bottom of the ninth, when a one-out walk and a single started a Panthers rally. Brian Burton doubled to bring Colin Gordner home and move Liam Wilson to third, then with two outs Wilson scored on a wild pitch, but Zach Johnson, representing the tying run, struck out three pitches later to end the game. 

Kitchener will finish the season with two games on the road beginning tonight in London and finishing with a make-up game in Guelph on Saturday night. Barrie’s regular season is over, so the Panthers can tie the Baycats for first place with two victories. In the IBL, the tie-break for a first-place deadlock is a sudden death game, which would take place in Barrie since the Baycats won the season series over Kitchener.