A problem that plagued the Guelph Royals during the Intercounty Baseball League’s regular season reared its ugly head again Tuesday night at Hastings Stadium in Game 2 of the best-of-seven championship series.
The Royals didn’t get any timely hits and stranded way too many runners as they were blanked 3-0 by the Barrie Baycats as the visitors took a 2-0 lead in the series.
“Yeah, we went through a spell earlier on in the year where we did the same thing and we struggled getting the big hit,” Royals manager Dino Roumel said.
“(Barrie pitcher Cesar) Rosado got a big strikeout whenever he needed it, with bases loaded or two guys on. One out, you know, we’ve got to be able to find a way to score guys, especially in a game like this. They had three hits and they’re up 3-0. I kept feeling like, wow, we’re dominating this game and I look at the scoreboard at 0-0, then 3-0 for them. You know, it’s playoff baseball. There’s got to be a little more intensity.”
The Royals stranded 15 runners including twice leaving the bases loaded in front of the largest crowd of the season as spectators manned lawn chairs two or three deep down both the first- and third-base lines. However, they were fairly silent throughout the match.
“Great crowd,” Roumel said. “Barrie travelled really well. (Their fans) were pretty vocal. We needed to give (our fans) something to cheer about. You know, you cash in one run. All we needed was one run at one point. We were being very aggressive and then we got really stupid trying to be aggressive, but picking it at the wrong spots. I thought the crowd started getting into it when we were playing better baseball and then we kind of lulled everybody to sleep, and we fell asleep. There’s a certain edge and intensity that you have to play at this level when you’re in a final and Barrie’s playing with it. We’re not and we’ve got to find a way to light a fire quickly.”
All three Barrie runs came in the third inning, two of them earned.
Jacob Kush, the league’s earned-run-average champion of the regular season, took the loss for the Royals as he yielded all three runs in 5 1/3 innings of work. He yielded three hits and four walks and struck out five.
Hector Yan held Barrie hitless and scoreless during his 3 2/3 innings of work. He had four strikeouts.
A quick glance at the scoresheet can give a deceiving impression. The Royals had five hits, all singles, and did work three Barrie pitchers for 11 walks, but struck out 15 times. They also had seven stolen bases in the match.
Rosado had the win for Barrie despite walking 10 Royals. He had 11 strikeouts. Chris Lazar and Brad Grieverson each gave up a hit in their stints on the mound.
“We’ve got to take care of our business and we’re not doing that, whether it’s walking a leadoff hitter or walking a 9-hole hitter or not making a play defensively and not cashing in runs,” Roumel said. “All these little things add up. We’ve lost a 12-inning game and we lost a 3-0 game where we had tons of chances to score. So we’re down 2-0, but you look at it and say, ‘Well, you know, if we execute properly, we’d be up 2-0 in this series.’“
That they could easily be ahead in the series that they now trail is the way the Royals have to look at it as they head to at Barrie’s Vantage Throne Stadium Thursday for Game 3.
The Royals will be looking to turn up the intensity when the series resumes with Game 3 at Barrie Thursday at 7:35 p.m..
“You have to,” Roumel said. “You have to. We have Evan Grills, who could be the best pitcher in the league, going for us (Thursday).”
Kyle Thomas is to be the starter for the Royals in Game 4 that is slated for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Hastings Stadium.
If the locals win both of those games, then the series is tied.
“Then we make it a three-game series,” Roumel said. “So we’ve got to take care of business one at a time. This is disheartening. We wanted to put on a better effort here at home. And although it was still a close game, it still wasn’t the kind of baseball that we should be playing right now at this point this season.”
Can the Royals get back to playing the style of baseball that can win games?
“I think you can wake up a little bit here, have a day off, and then come back with Grills with a good outing and then I think he might be the spark,” Roumel said. “But, again, it has to happen offensively, too, and especially in the middle of our order. That’s just the thing that’s killing us right now. We’re not going the key hit. We’re getting decent pitching, our defense is okay and we’re getting guys on base, so we’re battling at the plate. When it comes down to it, you need a big hit, and we’re just not getting it.
“We have such a great group of guys and you’re looking at how dejected everybody is right now. You know, this feeling sucks. And if they understand that, we’re capable of winning this series if we just play our game, and we’re not doing that right now.”
