By: Ken Beckett

BURLINGTON – Less than 24 hours after putting up a season-best ten runs in Brantford, the Burlington Herd saw their bats cool off on Saturday afternoon, falling 3-0 at home to the Hamilton Cardinals.  

Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Lazar threw a gem on the mound at Casey Cosgrove Field, picking up a complete game shutout to improve his record to 2-1 on the year. The left-handed pitcher gave up seven hits but didn't allow a walk to go along with four strikeouts. 

It was in the third inning when Hamilton took the lead, with Grant Arnold hitting an RBI single which scored Josh Freeman. Just one batter later, Cardinals third baseman Laine Renaud hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Jake Foden. 

That 2-0 lead would last until the top of the ninth inning when Hamilton added an insurance run, as Tyler Wood scored on a throwing error in a wild play to extend the Cardinals' lead. 

While no runs were scored by the Herd in Saturday's loss, the team did collect seven hits, with both Canice Ejoh and Eddie Chessell collecting two hits each. One of Ejoh's hits was a triple, in which the speedy outfielder blazed around the basepaths to collect his first three-base hit of the year. 

Also registering a triple on Saturday afternoon was Vaughn Bryan, who had a three-base hit in the bottom of the ninth inning for his second triple of the 2018 season. 

Taking the loss on the mound for the Herd was left-handed pitcher Rich Corrente to drop his record to 0-5 on the year. Over five innings of work, Corrente gave up three hits and three walks to go along with one walk and six strikeouts. 

The Herd are back in action on Sunday evening as they travel to Barrie to take on the Baycats. First pitch is scheduled for 7PM at Coates Stadium. 

Next week features two home games on the schedule, as the Herd return home to host the Baycats on Thursday night at 7:15PM. Then the Kitchener Panthers come to Casey Cosgrove Field on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1:05PM. 

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.