Russ Williams pitched six shutout innings and Jeremy Walker had three hits to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to their 14th straight win, a 3-0 victory over the Barrie Baycats in Intercounty Baseball League play Sunday at Christie Pits.
“We play as a team more than anything,” Toronto manager Perry Mader said of his team’s recent run. “We have a lot of great talent and we’re solid one through nine, but bottom line, we’ve played as a team all year. “The chemistry is great in the room and we’re looking forward to the playoffs.”
Williams (3-2) struck out 10 and walked just one, allowing three singles.
Hans Schnell added a scoreless inning for the Leafs and Yole Reina finished up with two scoreless innings to earn the save and close out the four-hitter.
“I felt really loose out there, today was a good day,” Williams said. “The team supported me well behind too, and that really helped.”
The Leafs scored all of their runs in the fifth inning, breaking a scoreless tie off reliever Chris England, who took the loss.
Walker led off with a single, moved to second on an infield hit by Carl Embro, with both runners moving up on a wild pitch.
Joe Colameco followed with an RBI groundout, scoring Walker, and Shayne Ridley and Matt Logan later added run-scoring hits to complete the scoring.
Walker was 3-for-3 with a run scored, while Embro was 2-for-3 and also scored a run. Colameco, Ridley and Logan all had one hit for the Leafs, who managed eight hits off three Barrie pitchers.
England took the loss in relief of starter Casey Virtue, who went two scoreless innings. England went five innings, allowing three runs on six hits with two strikeouts and no walks.
Lead-off hitter Toby Legace had three hits for the Baycats, who finished third in the league standings.
Toronto finishes the regular season with a record of 29-5, going 24-1 in the last 25 games, to win the pennant for the 19th time in franchise history and 18th time in the last 27 years. Toronto started the season with five straight wins, then lost four straight games to slip to 5-4. But the Leafs then won 10 straight, lost one, and finished the season with 14 consecutive victories to post the third best winning percentage in franchise history.
The Maple leafs will play the eighth place Oshawa Dodgers in a first round best-of-seven series starting Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Christie Pits.
Game two in the series is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Kinsmen Stadium in Oshawa, with game three back at the Pits Sunday at 2 p.m.
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Barrie Baycats | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
Toronto Maple Leafs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 3 | 8 | 0 |
Shayne Ridley had five hits to pace a 25-hit attack as the Toronto Maple leafs continued their torrid streak with an 18-2 pounding of the Brantford Red Sox in Intercounty Baseball League play Friday night in Brantford.
He went seven innings, allowing two runs on three hits with five strikeouts.
Danny Gibbons and Gamin Teague both had four hits for the Leafs, with Teague’s hits including a three-run homer.
Joe Colameco and Carl Embro both had three hits for the Leafs, with Embro’s production also including a two-run blast.
Stefan Strecker took the loss for the Red Sox, allowing seven runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts.
John Mariotti accounted for the Brantford runs with a two-run homer, but the Red Sox ould manage just five hits.
The Maple Leafs have won 13 straight games and 23 of their last 24 with the latest victory before a big crowd in Brantford.
Toronto is now 28-5, already having clinched the IBL pennant for the 19th time.
The Leafs wrap up their regular season Sunday at 2 p.m. against the Barrie Baycats at Christie Pits with the club’s annual Cap Day.
Toronto opens the playoffs with a first round quarter-final match-up against the Oshawa Dodgers starting Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Pits.
Game two is in Oshawa Saturday night, with game three back in Toronto next Sunday at 2 p.m. Dave Steffler (7-0) took advantage of the potent offence to pick up the win.
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Toronto Maple Leafs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 18 | 24 | 2 |
Brantford Red Sox | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 |