By Clinton Dixon
August 6, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
After a poor outing in game 1 against London,
Bandits starting pitcher Matthew St. Kitts could only manage to pitch one inning in Burlington’s Thursday night 9-2 loss to London at a Nelson Park. He gave up one run on four hits Thursday night before having to leave the game with a shoulder injury.
The bullpen didn’t really deliver for the team Thursday night.
Exactly what the Bandits had hoped wouldn’t happen, as their bullpen had been shaky the last few games, especially in middle relief.
Immediately after the pitching change the London Majors loaded the bases with no outs. Luckily for Burlington the damage was limited to just one run scored thanks to outfielder Justin Gideon. Gideon was able to record an outfield assist when he unleashed an absolute laser of a throw to gun down London’s Argenis Vargas at home; a call the Majors debated vehemently.
Bandit Coach Kyle was expecting more from the team in the quarter finals – they aren’t out yet – but they are real close,
Every one of the Majors’ coaches came out to argue with Home-plate Umpire, Chris Walters, claiming that Burlington’s Catcher, Kevin Hussey, blocked the plate. London’s arguments didn’t amount to anything and Burlington was able to escape the inning down only two runs.
Unfortunately in the next few innings Burlington wasn’t able keep hold of that momentum, as London kept chipping away at the Bandits poor pitching. The inning would later come to an end thanks to some terrible base running by London’s Cleveland Brownlee.
After a routine groundball produced an out at first base, Brownlee decided to try and take home, only to be thrown out at the plate by about ten feet. The poor decision got Burlington out of the inning, but not before falling behind 4 to 0.
After giving up another run Burlington was finally able to get on the scoreboard thanks to some atrocious fielding by London. First the Majors’ Center Fielder, Julio Guzman, saw a routine fly-ball bounce off his glove; Keith Kandel managed to take second on the error before scoring on the next play – another error, this time coming from London’s Shortstop Paul Lytwynec. London would go on to record a total of four errors in the inning before recording their first out; unfortunately Burlington wasn’t able to take advantage of the sloppy play, only managing to get one run across the plate.
Things settled down from there over the next few innings of play before London blew the lead open in the eighth. Even the co-owner of the Bandits, Scott Robinson, was forced to admit that it was “a very good inning for [London].”
The Majors’ plated four runs in the inning to take a 9 to 2 lead over the hometown Bandits. The score wouldn’t change from there as London would hold on for the victory.
The kids had a great time running the bases after the fourth inning.
The loss leaves the Bandits down 3 to 1 in the series heading back to London tomorrow night; but Justin Gideon, the Bandits Left Fielder, isn’t shy about how he and the rest of the team feel about their chances going forward in the series. “I think we’re better than London. We get base runners, we just need to cash them in and I think tomorrow’s the day.”
All in all it was a strong showing for the unlucky Bandits, who feel they’ve played well against London to this point. Coach Kyle MacKinnon knows that his team can win Friday night when they make the do-or-die trip down to London. “We go in with a game-seven mentality from here on out – you lose you go home. Hopefully these guys don’t want their summer to end yet and obviously I don’t either.”
Game 5 of the Quarterfinal Series will take place at 7:35 p.m. at Labatt Memorial Park in London.
If Burlington is able to stave off elimination Game 6 will be played Sunday afternoon at Nelson Park in Burlington.
