By: Ken Beckett

BURLINGTON – Winners of two of their last three games, the Burlington Herd return home to Casey Cosgrove Field to host the Guelph Royals on Thursday night.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:15PM and tickets are available at the front gate and can be purchased in advance at IBLHerd.com.

The Herd return home after seeing their modest two-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday evening in a 5-4 extra innings loss to the Hamilton Cardinals. That game was tied 3-3 heading into the tenth inning, when Justin Gideon hit a solo home run to put Burlington on top in extras at the time. The home run was his sixth of the season and capped off a solid night at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a home run and a double.

Also collecting multiple hits on Tuesday in Hamilton was Vaughn Bryan, who had a 3-for-5 night as well at the plate, with all three hits coming as singles. The rightfielder, who has spent the last few games as designated hitter, has hit safely in eight of his last nine games, collecting 14 hits in that span. That stretch has also raised Bryan’s batting average from .220 to .316 since it began on June 30th.

Collecting a hit in Hamilton was Herd shortstop Mattingly Romanin, who hit an RBI double in the loss. The double extended Romanin’s current hitting streak to five games. The Burlington native has eight hits over his current hitting streak, four of which have been doubles to go along with one home run.

Scheduled to take the mound for the Herd on Thursday at home is Casey Howard. The right-handed pitcher sports a 3-1 record in 2018 and is coming off a strong start at home.

In an 11-4 win over the Kitchener Panthers on July 14th, Howard pitched eight innings, giving up four earned runs on eight hits and two walks to go along with three strikeouts. 

The Guelph Royals come to Burlington as winners of two of their last three games as well, most recently shutting out Kitchener 3-0 at home on Tuesday evening.

Royals starting pitcher Yunior Yambattis went the distance in the win over Kitchener, pitching nine innings for the complete game shutout. Over those nine innings, Yambattis gave up just four hits and four walks to go along with eight strikeouts.

Guelph received contributions at the plate from most of their lineup in the win, with seven of the nine players in their batting order collecting hits. One of those players was centerfielder Ethan Mohan who went 1-for-4 and was also named IBL Batter of the Week for the period of July 9-15.

Over that span, Mohan recorded a .437 average with two doubles, a triple, and an RBI. The Calgary, Alberta native is currently sporting a .377 average with eight doubles, two triples, two home runs and eight RBI’s.

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.