The Toronto Maple Leafs couldn’t have come any closer to winning the Intercounty Baseball League pennant on Monday night – but they didn’t.

Jason Gotwalt hit a walk-off, two run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning off reliever Cody Powell to give the Brantford Red Sox a stunning 3-2 win over the Leafs in Brantford, denying the Leafs the IBL pennant.

Brantford (23-12) moves a half game ahead of Toronto (23-13) in the IBL standings with the win. The Leafs have completed their regular season while the Red Sox can claim the pennant with a win over the Barrie Baycats in their final regular season game on Wednesday night.

A Brantford loss in that game will mean a sudden death playoff game for the pennant. If that game is necessary it will be played in Brantford, as the Red Sox hold the run differential over Toronto in the tie-breaker.

The Leafs looked to be poised to win the pennant outright on Monday. After managing just one hit through eight innings – a fourth inning double by Raul Borjas – the Leafs rallied in their ninth on RBI singles by Damon Toploie and Brian Ivan to take a 2-1 lead.

But in the bottom of the ninth, Joe Colameco singled and one out later, Gotwalt blasted his homer to crush the Leafs hopes.

Marc-Andre Major started for the Red Sox and was brilliant through six innings, allowing one hit while striking out eight and walking one. Three relievers finished up, including Stefan Strecker, who got the last two outs to get credit for the win.

Jon Lockwood started for Toronto but only so he could qualify for the playoffs and got one out. Marek Deska matched Major, allowing just one run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings. Mark Sikorski replaced him and got four outs before Powell came in with one out and one on in the ninth.

Gotwalt and Wayne Forman both had two hits for the Red Sox. Kyle Degrace and Topolie both had a hit and a run scored for Toronto.