By Staff.
BURLINGTON, ON. August 12th, 2013. It hasn’t gone well. The Burlington Bandits were matched up against the London Majors for the first round, best of seven games in the Intercounty League baseball season.
Game four is scheduled to take place Thursday night, 7:30 pm in Burlington at Nelson Park.
The team wants to go out on a high note and announced their first annual Burlington Bandits Fans Choice Player Awards.
Starting today, August 12th, Bandits fans will have an opportunity to vote for their favourite players for Top Pitcher, Top Hitter, Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year and Fan Favorite awards
Polls will close on Thursday, August 15th at noon Awards will be presented that night when the Bandits take on the London Majors for game four.
To vote, click for the link.
The London Majors led 5-0 after four innings in the second of seven in the first playoff round, and were never threatened by the host Bandits, as Burlington committed four errors and fell to the Majors 6-2.That gave them a two
That gave London a two game lead in the first round playoff. Jordan Townshend was the starter and winner for the Majors, allowing nine hits and just two earned runs with three walks and five strikeouts over six innings pitched. Josh Palmer picked up the save, allowing only one hit and one walk with two strikeouts over three shutout innings.
Cleveland Brownlee singled and homered for the visiting Majors, registering a pair of RBI while Chris Stewart also homered and scored twice. Ryan Lapensee singled and doubled while driving in a run, and Larry Balkwill added a pair of doubles with a run batted in. Adwin Springer and Derrik Strzalkowski each singled and scored, while Paul LaMantia singled to round out the ten-hit London attack.
The Bandits also had ten hits on the day, which included four by Connor Panas who also drove in a run. Daniel Peake and Brian Sewell each singled, doubled and scored a run, while Jeff Kosta and Jeff MacLeod each registered a hit apiece. Nick Studer drove in a run to pace the Bandits in the loss.
Jason Rubenstein took the loss for Burlington, allowing seven hits and five runs – four earned – with four strikeouts over the first five innings.
On Sunday, when the third game was played, it didn’t get much better. Larry Balkwill opened the bottom of the ninth inning with a walk-off home run to lead the London Majors to a 5-4 win over the Burlington Bandits. That gave the Majors a stranglehold on the best of seven series.
It was a back and forth affair which saw the Majors rebound from a 2-0 deficit after two innings and down 4-3 after five. The Majors tied the game with a single run scored in the seventh, before Balkwill’s heroics in the bottom of the ninth.
Chris Hammond started for London and pitched six innings but it was reliever Mike DeLong who picked up the win, allowing just two hits over three shutout innings with four strikeouts.
The Majors outhit the Bandits 11-9 including three by Paul LaMantia who singled twice and doubled. Parris Austin and Paul Young each singled and doubled with a run scored while Young added a pair of RBI. Chris Stewart singled, tripled and scored, while Adwin Springer singled and drove in a run. Cleveland Brownlee added an RBI and Ryan Lapensee came in to score to round out the London attack.
Michael Vanderlaan came on to replace Alex Gale with one out in the seventh inning and took the loss for the Bandits, allowing the home run to Balkwill plus one other walk and strikeout over his 1 2/3 innings of work.
Phil Steer and Jeff Kosta each had a pair of hits with Steer driving in a run and Kosta coming in to score, while Brian Sewell singled and drove in a pair. Jeff MacLeod and Nick Studer each had a hit and a run scored, while Connor Panas and Daniel Peake each added singles in the loss. Dan Franceschetti had a run scored to pace the Burlington offence.
Can the home team squeeze in at least one win? It will be an exciting game – Nelson Park – Thursday at 7:30 pm.
