It was a long painful night for the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday at Dominico Field at Christie Pits.
Jeff Pietraszko’s run-scoring single in the top of the 11th inning gave the Kitchener Panthers a 6-5 win over the Leafs in Intercounty Baseball League play, snapping Toronto’s three-game winning streak.
The Leafs had a glorious chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth when Dan Gibbons clubbed a bases-loaded hit off the fence in left field with the bases loaded and the Leafs trailing 5-4 and one out. But some poor base running resulted in just one run scoring on the play and two runners thrown out.
“Bad decision making on the base paths cost us this game,” Leaf owner Jack Dominico said. “We also made a real costly error that led to three runs. Mistakes like that cost us last week and they cost us again tonight.”
Kitchener got new life and two innings later, scratched home a run in the top of the 11th and hung on to beat the Leafs (10-8) for the second time in a week.
Pete Malloy had two hits and drove in two runs and Mat Taube also had two hits to pace Kitchener’s 10-hit attack. Taube also scored twice for the Panthers, who improved to 11-8 with the win and leapfrogged past the Leafs into third place in the IBL.
Kitchener starter Brendan Farquahar pitched a gritty nine innings, allowing five runs on eight hits with one strikeout and four walks. Reliever Tavis Bruce pitched two shutout innings for the win, allowing one hit and two walks.
Toronto starter Matt Walker was solid for six innings, allowing three unearned runs on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Ryan Mashinter went 1 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits before Cody Powell finished up and took the loss. Powell lasted 3 1/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits with three strikeouts and a walk.
Kyle Degrace had a two-run homer for the Leafs, who squandered an early 4-0 lead. Brian Ivan had two hits including an RBI single and Dan Gibbons walked three times, scored twice and drove in a run for Toronto.
The Leafs are in Guelph on Saturday afternoon and host the Mississauga Twins Sunday at 2 p.m. at Dominico Field at Christie Pits.