Fired Up Leafs Grind One Out in Guelph

Game 4: Toronto Maple Leafs at Guelph Royals - May 21, 2016

Leafs win 6-5

I am not of that school of muttering fogeydom that demands that all ballplayers bottle up their emotions and play the game like stoic robots.

Nor am I of the school of showing up the opposite side and parading around the ballpark after every play like a braying jackass.

But there is a middle ground, where an athlete should be free to celebrate a great performance, and release the passion that burns within.

There was such a moment at the end of today's game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Guelph Royals at Hastings Stadium.

Having just thrown a 171-pitch, come-from-behind complete game victory, Leafs starter Dillon Mulholland flung his glove into the air and shouted "Yeah!"  After a performance like that, the dude had earned himself a "Yeah!", even a "Hell Yeah!", but let's not ruin the sport.

Mulholland's "screw the pitch count" gem topped off an afternoon of passionate play from the Leafs.  Aggression on the basepaths, assertion at the plate, slammed helmets in the dugout, and a steady stream of chatter to pick each other up.  They fell behind 3-1 after the first inning, but battled back and beat nine hits out of the Royals en route to a 6-5 win.  

RBIs were provided by Grant Tamane, Dan Marra, Johnathan Solazzo, Will Richards and Justin Marra.  Solazzo banged out three hits on the day to raise his club-leading batting average to .500.

The Royals held the visitors in close for most of the game, and their ballpark's expanded dimensions held Toronto's sluggers at bay.  With the score tied 5-5, the day was decided in the ninth.  Luck and patience worked in the Leafs' favour as they loaded the bases for Justin Marra, who drew a walk to bring home the winning run.

Mulholland wanted to close it out.  The young Royals battled him for 20 more pitches before he finally nailed down the 27th out and launched his glove to the heavens.


Game Recap:


The Toronto Maple Leafs visited reconfigured Hastings Stadium for the first time this season.  Matt Schmidt was on the mound for the Guelph Royals against Dillon Mulholland, making his first start of 2016.

Toronto got on the scoreboard first.  Centerfielder and OBP machine Grant Tamane led off with a walk.  He stole second base and scored on a double by first baseman Johnathan Solazzo.  After throwing 18 pitches, Schmidt left the game with an arm issue and was relieved by Adrian Yuen.

It looked like it might be a short afternoon for Mulholland.  He surrendered three runs on four hits in the bottom of the first.  Shortstop Kingsley Alarcon singled and stole second, then scored on a double by third baseman Richard Gill.  Leftfielder Aaron Loder followed with an RBI single to score Gill.  Loder also stole second, then scored on a single by first baseman Brendan Power.  3-1 Royals after one.

The Leafs got one back in the top of the third.  Rightfielder Jon Waltenbury led off with a walk, then moved to third on a single by Solazzo.  Leftfielder Will Richards then drove in Waltenbury on a doubleplay.  3-2 Royals midway through the third.

In the bottom of the third, Gill drew a walk, then stole second.  He moved to third on a single by Power.  Then Power attempted to steal second.  Catcher Brendan Keys' throw resulted in an error, Power was safe and Gill scored.  4-2 Royals after three.

The Leafs battled back in the top of the 6th.  DH Justin Marra and Keys both reached base on walks.  Singles by Tamane and Dan Marra brought them both in to score, and ended Yuen's emergency relief appearance.  Ryan Greco came in to get out of the inning, but the score was tied 4-4.

Both clubs grabbed another run each in the 7th.  Solazzo and Richards were walked aboard.  A passed ball moved them to third and second respectively.  Solazzo then came roaring home on an error by catcher Saul Tahuite to give the Leafs their first lead of the game 5-4.

The Royals scored right back in the bottom of the 7th.  DH Steven Saatz led off with a walk, then moved to second on a walk to second baseman Trevor Nyp.  Rightfielder Chandler McLaren tied the game with an RBI single that plated Saatz and the score was knotted at 5 through seven innings of play.

A scoreless 8th meant that the game came down to the final outs.  Solazzo led off with his third hit of the day on a close call at first.  A grounder to Power left him scrambling and diving back to the bag to make the out, but the 1B umpire called Solazzo safe.  This prompted a visit from Guelph manager Steve Scagnetti, to no avail.  Richards was grazed by the very next pitch, putting two men aboard.  Third baseman Sean Mattson then walked to load the bases.  Justin Marra was up next, and he too drew a walk, and Solazzo crossed the plate with the winning run.  Jeff MacLeod relieved Greco to get out of the inning, but the Leafs now led 6-5.

At 151 pitches, Mulholland came out to start the 9th.  Saatz and Tahuite both battled him before being retired.  Saatz's strikeout gave Mulholland eight on the day.  Up next, Nyp succeeded in reaching base on balls, then advanced to second on a wild pitch.  That was as far as he would get, as Alarcon grounded to third, where Mattson scooped it up and lasered it to first for the final out and the 6-5 FINAL for Toronto.


Toronto 6-9-1
Guelph 5-6-2

W - Mulholland (1-0, 3.27) 
L - Greco (0-1, 7.71)

BOXSCORE

The Maple Leafs are now 2-1 and in 4th place in the IBL standings.  

Their next game will be back home at Christie Pits on Sunday, May 22 against the Brantford Red Sox.  

Rivalry Renewed at the Pits

Game 3: Barrie Baycats at Toronto Maple Leafs - May 18, 2016

Baycats win 8-5

Last August, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Barrie Baycats went the distance in the IBL semi finals, exchanging a fury of jabs, crosses and hooks over seven titanic rounds.

The old familiars went at it again tonight at Christie Pits, with the Baycats emerging victorious, 8-5.

The combatants took the field on a cool, windless evening.  The small crowd on hand thinned out sometime after the third inning, after the Christie Pits workout club jogged away from their stretching station up the left field line.

The visitors grabbed an early lead, stretched it out in the middle innings, then held off a late rally to earn the win.

Sean Mattson (above) belted his second home run of the season -- a solo shot in the 5th to give him a team-leading 5 RBIs after a couple of games.

Starter Brett Van Pelt was outduelled by counterpart Brett Lawson, the former giving up six earned runs over five innings while the latter gave up just one over seven, while striking out 10.

As the season gets going, the Leafs are showing confidence in their ability to put runs on the board, especially in bunches.  This bodes well in a place like Christie Pits, where no lead can ever be considered safe.


Game Recap:


Brett Van Pelt of the Toronto Maple Leafs faced Brett Lawson of the Barrie Baycats on a cool spring evening at Christie Pits.

The Baycats led off the scoring in the top of the 1st inning, as rightfielder Ryan Spataro drew a walk and stole second, then came home on a single by first baseman Jordan Castaldo.

In the top of the 2nd, Barrie scored again.  Shortstop Branfy Infante singled and second baseman Jeff Cowan doubled, then Infante scored when third baseman Conner Morro grounded out.  2-0 Baycats after two.

Barrie doubled its lead in the top of the 4th.  Van Pelt gave up walks to Cowan and left fielder Brandon Dhue.  Morro then drove in one run, and centerfielder Glenn Jackson drove in another on back-to-back singles, making it 4-0 Barrie through four.

Infante tacked on two more runs for the visitors in the top of the 5th, when he hit a 2-run homer.

Lawson held the Leafs hitless through 4.1 innings, until Sean Mattson launched one over the centerfield fence to put the home side on the board.  6-1 Barrie after five.

Marek Deska relieved Van Pelt after the 5th, and pitched two scoreless innings of relief.

Justin Cicatello came in to pitch the top of the 8th and he retired the Baycats in order.

The Leafs were glad to see the back of Lawson's lofty frame for the last time after 7 innings.  Jaspreet Shergill relieved him to start the bottom of the 8th and Toronto pounced.  Catcher Brendan Keys worked Shergill for a walk, then centerfielder Julio Guzman singled.  Second baseman Grant Tamane walked to load the bases, and then DH Ryan White hit a sac fly to left to score Keys.  First baseman Jon Waltenbury followed with a single to score Guzman.  Shortstop Johnathan Salazzo rounded off the scoring with a double that brought home Tamane and Waltenbury.  Adam Hawes got the call from the Barrie bullpen to put out the fire, but when the smoke cleared the Baycats held on to a 6-5 lead.

Barrie was able to add a pair of insurance runs in the top of the 9th.  Morro and Jackson both singled off of Cicatello and advanced on a sac bunt by Spataro.  A sac fly by catcher Kyle DeGrace brought Morro in to score, and a single by pinch hitter Jeremy Walker plated Jackson for an 8-5 Baycats lead.

Hawes retired the Leafs in order in the bottom of the 9th to earn a save and lock down the win for Lawson and an 8-5 final score.


Barrie 8-11-1
Toronto 5-4-1

W - Lawson (1-0, 1.28) 
L - Van Pelt (1-1, 7.20)
S - Hawes (1)

BOXSCORE


The Maple Leafs are now 1-1 to start the season.  Their next game will be this Saturday, May 21st in Guelph, the five-pin bowling capital of Canada, and also home to the Guelph Royals baseball club.

The Darling Buds of May, Some Other Day

                                                                                                                                                                                           FILE PHOTO

The month of May can't get with the program.

Today's game between the Burlington Bandits and Toronto Maple Leafs at Christie Pits has been postponed due to poor field conditions.  

Most of the IBL's schedule for this weekend was wiped out by weather.

The Leafs' next game will be this Wednesday, May 18th, when they host Barry's Baycats from up north.

Leafs Rampage on Opening Day

Game 1: Guelph Royals at Toronto Maple Leafs - May 8, 2016

Leafs Win 13-2

                                                                                                                                                                                             FILE PHOTO

Like a band of escaped gorillas, the Toronto Maple Leafs went on a rampage at Christie Pits yesterday afternoon.  Kicking off their 48th IBL season, the Leafs kicked the Guelph Royals up and down the Pits for a 13-2 win.

Toronto's family of bash brothers got off to a roaring start.  The heart of the order launched four round trippers for a team cycle of home runs:

Sean Mattson - grand slam HR
Jon Waltenbury - 3-run HR
Johnathan Solazzo - 2 run HR
Will Richards - solo HR

This season's projected rotation each got a turn on the mound, with Brett van Pelt getting the start.  He struck out three over five innings, giving up Guelph's only two runs of the game and earning the win.  He was followed by Marek Deska, Dillan Mulholland and Justin Cicatello, who combined for four shutout innings to close it out.

It's the first game of the season, it's early.  Come on, the trees have barely blossomed.  But it's hard to dampen the pangs of enthusiasm for a club that found itself during last season's post-season run and looks to have picked up right where it left off.  Here they come, those feelings again.


Game Recap:

Balls.  The Maple Leafs hit many of them.  So did the Royals, but to far less effect.  The season is on.


Guelph 2-12-1
Toronto 13-11-0

W - van Pelt (1-0)
L - DiMichelle (0-1)

BOXSCORE


UP NEXT: The 1-0 Maple Leafs will be back at Christie Pits for their second game of the season on Sunday, May 15 against the Burlington Bandits.

Semi-Final Game 7: Sun Sets on the Leafs, Season Ends

Semi-Finals: Toronto Maple Leafs at Barrie Baycats - August 20, 2015

Baycats win 7-2 -- BAYCATS WIN THE SERIES 4-3

When the 2015 IBL postseason got underway, not many people expected the Toronto Maple Leafs to start swaggering from town to town like a gang of cigar-chomping woodpeckers, kicking other clubs' ballparks to pieces, and tapping their ashes out in some poor joe's lunch.

But that's what happened.

The Mapes had staggered to a 6th place finish with one of their worst records in decades (15-21).  A late-season losing streak had resulted in a managerial adjustment.  A first round matchup with the 7-time champion Brantford Red Sox dulled the spirit, and it looked like the Leafs might be goners, quick.

Instead, the playoffs proved to be a new dawn for the club.

Pitching, hitting and fielding all came together.  The Leafs played like the Leafs we waited for all season.

Justin Cicatello, Brett Van Pelt and Justin Lawrence gelled into a formidable rotation, racking up complete game wins like it was no big deal.  In six out of 12 games, the starters went the distance.  Cicatello led the way with three wins.

At the plate, Johnathan Solazzo and Jon Waltenbury formed a "bash brothers" tandem, smashing four and three home runs respectively, including some memorable bombs at Christie Pits.  Tyler Mitchell, who hit one round-tripper all season, made a surprise addition to the postseason demolition crew by hitting three homers as well.  Between the three of them, they racked up 42 of the Leafs' 79 RBIs this August.

Waltenbury hit .457 in the postseason and led the team in hits, doubles, RBIs, runs scored, and he also tied Dan Marra for stolen bases with two apiece.  Waltenbury also led the team as its undisputed captain, rallying the troops from first pitch to final out.

The team rallied around him, as old reliables Marra and Raul Borjas stepped it up with timely hits and RBIs.  Newer faces like Grant Tamane, Brendan Keys, Connor Lewis and Will Richards all cemented their places on the team.

So, instead of going down quietly and letting Brantford get on with bigger things, the Leafs stormed into their quarterfinal matchup and shocked the Red Sox 4-1.  It was the first time since 2007 that the Leafs knocked them out.

It was on to the semi-finals and a meeting with the Barrie Baycats.  The defending IBL champions had romped to a 28-7 regular season record, and swept the Guelph Royals in four games.  The Leafs could not ask to face a more overwhelming favourite, but they rose to the challenge and pushed the 'Cats to the brink.  The back-and-forth series went to a seventh game.

Last night in Barrie, the Leafs' playoff run came to an end.  The tank ran out of gas, the champs had one more win in them, and the Leafs were eliminated.

Justin Lawrence had a tough luck outing, giving up seven runs (five earned) over 6.1 innings.  Behind him, the Leafs' infield made four errors.

At the plate, the Leafs' bats went cold.  They knocked nine hits off of starter Adam Rowe, but left eight men on base and struck out nine times.  A late rally got Toronto on the board, but they ran out of outs, and Barrie celebrated under the fireworks with a 7-2 final score. 

After a new dawn, the sun had set on the 2015 season.


Game Recap:

It was all on the line as the Barrie Baycats hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs in game seven of their semi-final series.  Adam Rowe and Justin Lawrence were on the mound to start the elimination game.

It was a hitless, scoreless affair for the first two innings.  Toronto got a couple of hits off of Rowe in the third, but nothing came of it.

Barrie got on the board in the bottom of the 4th, when first baseman Jordan Castaldo hit a two-run homer off of Lawrence.  Third baseman Kevin Atkinson reached on an error, which was followed by a single by catcher Kyle DeGrace.  A single by shortstop Branfy Arias scored Atkinson and the Baycats had a 3-0 lead after four innings.

The Baycats extended their lead in the 5th, as centerfielder Glenn Jackson singled and Castaldo got aboard with a walk.  Atkinson then hit a double to bring Jackson home and move Castaldo to third.  He too scored, when DeGrace hit into an out at first.  5-0 Baycats through five.

DeGrace put the finishing touch on Barrie's scoring, with a two-run homer off of Lawrence in the bottom of the 7th.  Marek Deska came in to finish the inning, and the Baycats led 7-0 through seven.

Toronto rallied late.  Rightfielder Grant Tamane singled to lead off.  That was followed by singles from second baseman Dan Marra and third baseman Johnathan Solazzo.  With the bases loaded, leftfielder Raul Borjas hit into a fielder's choice.  Tamane and Marra both scored on the play after a fielding error by Barrie.  Christian Botnick pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the frame and it was 7-2 Baycats after eight innings.

It was also a 1-2-3 top of the 9th, as the Leafs went down in order to Chris Nagorski and Barrie won the series with a 7-2 final.


Toronto 2-9-4
Barrie 7-6-2

W - Rowe (3-1, 1.82)
L - Lawrence (1-3, 3.81)

BOXSCORE


The Maple Leafs' 2015 playoff thrill ride is over.  Overall, this season has provided a memorable four months, and the club has a solid foundation to build on for 2016.

Late last night, one Barrie player put it best when he declared: "The Leafs are back!"