BARRIE – The Intercounty Baseball League semi-final series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Barrie Baycats is off to a wild start.

Jordan Lundberg hit a three-run homer as the Baycats edged the Maple Leafs 8-7 on Thursday night in the opener of the best-of-seven series between the bitter rivals – and there isn’t much doubt that bitter rivalry is alive and well.

Game 2 in the series is Sunday at 2 p.m. at Christie Pits.

Dan Gibbons hit a pair of home runs and drove in five runs off former Leaf ace and Toronto Blue Jay Paul Spoljaric, but was ejected in the seventh inning along with Gamin Teague after he and Spoljaric exchanged words. Spoljaric and another former Leaf, Matt Logan, were also tossed.

The teams have had a bitter rivalry for several years and it’s intensified since Spoljaric left the Leafs two years ago to join the Baycats after six seasons with the Leafs. Spoljaric clearly felt he was showed up after the Leafs hit three homers off him and all four players were ejected.

“We got the hitting tonight and obviously there’s a lot of emotions still between these teams,” Leaf owner Jack Dominico said. “We were able to generate a lot of runs and that’s a good way to start the series.

“Now we go back home and we need to get some pitching to match up with the bats. This will be an interesting series after tonight.”

Toronto didn’t get the pitching it was looking for in the opener, as Jason Pilkington allowed six runs on eight hits in just two innings and took the loss. The Baycats wound up with 14 hits as Drew Taylor finished up, allowing two runs on six hits the rest of the way.

Splojaric got the win but he was hit hard, allowing seven runs on 12 hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out six and walking none. Jake Hines pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

Teague also homered and had three hits with a pair of RBI for the Leafs, who had 12 hits. Kern Watts and Raul Borjas both added two hits for the Leafs.

Lundberg finished with two hits and four RBI, while David Latour had two hits and drove in three runs. Ryan Spataro and Donovan Latour both added two hits for the Baycats.