By: Ken Beckett

BURLINGTON – After a rain out and a stretch of road games, the Burlington Herd return home for the first time in two weeks on Thursday night to host the London Majors.

The Herd’s last “home” game at Casey Cosgrove Field came back on June 21st, in what was actually billed as an away game against the Hamilton Cardinals due to delays in their field getting ready. Despite the odd set of circumstances, the hometown Herd picked up a win the last time they played in front of their fans.

Since registering a win over the Guelph Royals on June 5th, Burlington has alternated between wins and losses each game. This trend continued for the 12th straight time in the Herd’s last game, falling to the Kitchener Panthers on Canada Day just one day after earning a win over Guelph on June 30th.

That trend is good news for Herd fans hoping for a bounce back win in the team’s first game on home soil in two weeks.

Making his 2018 Herd home debut will be infielder Grant Okawa, who re-joined the team on June 29th in London and has since played in three games for Burlington. In this, his second season with the Herd, Okawa has jumped out to a solid start at the plate, hitting .300 with three hits, two RBI’s and one run scored. All three of Okawa’s hits have been doubles.

Speaking of doubles, Herd centerfielder Justin Gideon has a chance to make some history at home on Thursday night. 

In Burlington’s last game at Casey Cosgrove Field on June 21 against Hamilton, Gideon went 1-for-5 with his lone hit coming as an RBI double in the second inning. While Herd fans have come to expect multi-base hits from the speedy outfielder, that double actually put Gideon in elite company.

The double against Hamilton was Gideon’s fourth of the season but also the 29th regular season double of his IBL career, tying him with Branson Joseph who holds the all-time franchise record in doubles. Joseph was named to the IBL Top 100 Players of All-Time list this off-season and Gideon can surpass him and etch his name in the history books with one more two-base hit.

Gideon also comes into Thursday’s game against London riding a four-game hitting streak, dating back to the double on June 21 against Hamilton.

Another Herd outfielder working on a hitting streak is Vaughn Bryan, who has himself a two-game streak after seeing his previous six-game hitting streak come to an end last Friday on the road in London.

Since joining the Herd, Bryan has hit safely in 8 of his 10 games played. Most recently, the Sunrise, Florida native picked up his first triple in a Herd uniform in last Saturday’s win on the road against the Guelph Royals while also driving in two runs in that game.

Taking the mound and making his Herd debut on Thursday night will be left-handed pitcher Trent Lunsford.

The Overland Park, Kansas native joins Burlington after splitting the 2017 season between the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League and the Garden City Wind of the Pecos League. Over 30.2 innings pitched last season, Lunsford gave up 35 hits and 20 earned runs while striking out 37 batters.

Lunsford spent his college career with the NCAA Division 1 Indiana State Sycamores. In his last season with the Sycamores in 2017, Lunsford had a strong strikeouts per innings pitched ratio, fanning 15 batters over 13.2 innings of work.

The London Majors come to town sitting third overall in the IBL standings with a 12-7 record while having won three of their last four games. The Majors were last in action on Tuesday, picking up a 14-4 blowout win on the road against Hamilton. 

Pacing the offense for London in the win over the Cards was third baseman R.J. Fuhr, who went 4-for-7 with a double and three runs scored. 

Also turning in a solid performance was London’s right fielder Byron Reichstein, going 1-for-3 while driving in four runs and scoring two runs himself. The four RBI’s put his season total to 15 in that stat category, tying Mike Ambrose for the team lead. 

First pitch for Thursday’s match-up is scheduled for 7:15PM and tickets are available at the front gate and on IBLHerd.com.

If you can’t make it to the game, “The Voice of The Herd” Ken Beckett has the call for all Herd home games on Mixlr.com/IBLHerd. For live-game broadcasts, interviews, player profiles, game previews, and recaps, follow Ken on Twitter at @KenBeckett.

The Burlington Herd are a member of Ontario's most elite baseball league, the Intercounty Baseball League. The 100-year old summer league is one of the oldest baseball leagues in the world, with the league established in 1919, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. For more information, visit www.iblherd.com or follow the Herd on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @IBLHerd.