The 2010 Intercounty Baseball League season has come to a bitterly disappointing end for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Leafs lost the IBL pennant in the last game of the regular season on a walk-off home run, and their playoff season ended in the first round when they were crushed by the Guelph Royals 12-5 on Monday afternoon in Guelph.
Guelph wins the best-of-seven series in six games with the seventh place Royals sending the second place Leafs to the sidelines in the first round for the second time in three seasons.
A complete blow-up by the pitching staff led to Toronto’s latest exit, as the Royals scored 56 runs on Leaf pitching in the six games, with Guelph out-scoring the Leafs 26-7 in the final two games of the series after delivering a 14-2 thumping in Game 5 on Sunday at Dominico Field at Christie Pits.
Leaf owner Jack Dominico needless to say wasn’t impressed.
“We got no pitching in this series, none,” Dominico lamented. “Losing is one thing but to lose like that makes it pretty tough.
“We got thumped in the last two games and going out like that is really bad. Give credit to Guelph for their hitting, but clearly we were not good enough in this series and I’m going to have to look at making some changes.”
The Royals will now face the pennant winning Brantford Red Sox, while the third place Barrie Baycats will tackle the fifth place London Majors in the other IBL semi-final round while the Leafs will watch for the sidelines.
As they were in the entire series, the Royals bats were in full force once again on Monday, as they scored four runs in the first inning and another pair in the second, putting the Leafs into a hole they couldn’t climb out of.
The Leafs tried to battle back, but every time they did the Royals answered again, scoring three more runs in the fourth and another three in the fifth to pick up the easy win. Guelph scored 45 runs in the last four games of the series alone.
Brad Cochrane hit a three-run homer in the first to key the fast start and wound up with three hits and five RBI for the winners. Jeremy Ware had four hits, including a three-run homer, and scored three runs, while Frankie Hare also homered, had three hits and scored four runs. Chris Stewart and Sean Travers also contributed a pair of hits for Guelph.
The Royals were just 16-20 in the regular season to Toronto’s 23-13, but the Royals were considered a dangerous opponent with their powerful veteran-laden lineup, and unlike the Leafs, got enough pitching to move on.
Starter Ryan Hart went a gutsy eight innings for the win. He allowed five runs on 10 hits with two strikeouts and two walks before Chris Romano finished up.
Toronto starter Drew Taylor, who battled lingering arm problems all season, lasted just 1 1/3 innings. He allowed five runs on four hits with one strikeout.
Raul Borjas had two hits and an RBI for the Maple Leafs, who had 10 hits in the game. Kyle Morton scored twice and added a hit.
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