By: Ken Beckett

BURLINGTON -- The Barrie Baycats took a commanding 2-0 series lead on the road on Saturday, beating the Burlington Herd 6-1 to head home with a chance to clinch the best-of-five series.

Barrie received another dominant performance from their starting pitcher after a complete game shutout from Frank Garces in Game One. In Game Two, it was right-hander Matt St. Kitts who picked up a complete game win, racking up ten strikeouts while giving up just one walk and five hits over nine innings of work.

It was a two-run home run that gave the Baycats the lead in the top of the third inning, as Jeff Cowan started things off with a lead-off bunt before designated hitter Branfy Infante hit the ball over the left field wall for his first homer of the post-season.

The Baycats would extend their lead with a four-run fifth inning thanks to some costly errors made by the Herd. Capitalizing on two Herd infield errors to go along with a walk and a hit batter, Barrie batted around with all nine hitters in the lineup coming to the plate. 

Baycats first baseman Tim Smith would score with the bases loaded on a catching error made by Herd backstop Mattingly Romanin in the fifth. Then on the following play, two more runs scored on a throwing error by second baseman Robbie Cant. The final run of the inning came courtesy of a Jordan Castaldo sacrifice fly to right field which scored Ryan Spataro from third base.

Burlington's lone run of the ball game came in the bottom of the fifth inning, as designated hitter Dan Ohorodnyk started off the inning with a single and then scored from second base two batters later on an RBI single from Nolan Pettipiece.

The Herd managed five hits on the night, collecting hits from Ohordnyk and Pettipiece, along with singles from Romanin and Robbie Cant. While Justin Gideon doubled in the third inning and would later steal third base to register his first hit and stolen base of the 2018 playoffs.

Starting pitcher Adam Prashad gets credited with the loss in Game Two, pitching five innings while giving up four hits, six runs (three unearned), to go along with three walks and one strikeout.

Barrie has a chance to end the series in less than 24 hours as Game Three goes Sunday night at Coates Stadium, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05PM. If necessary, Game Four is scheduled for Monday night in Burlington, with first pitch slated to be delivered at 7:15PM.

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.