Sunday, August 12, 2018
BRANTFORD RED SOX AT KITCHENER PANTHERS

Game 3, Intercounty Baseball League Quarter Finals

by Anne Chamberlain, with BrantfordRedSox.com staff

Brantford visited Kitchener for game 3 of their playoff series in a true must-win game.  A Kitchener win would close out the best of 5 series.  A Brantford win would mean game 4 in Brantford the next evening.

Unfortunately, the 2018 IBL season for the Brantford Red Sox is over. They were defeated by a score of 5-2 by the Kitchener Panthers. Kitchener moves on to the semi-finals against the winner of the Guelph Royals and Toronto Maple Leafs series.

Kitchener got on the board first in the bottom of the 1st inning via a throwing error, one of 2 Sox errors in the inning.  After a clean 2nd inning Kitchener scored again in the 3rd inning in similar fashion, 2 Brantford errors leading to 1 Kitchener run.

Brantford answered back in the 4th inning. Ricky Murray was driven home by Nick Burdett. As was the story this series, however, Brantford was unable to continue this momentum at the plate. Kitchener added 3 insurance runs in the 6th inning to put things further out of reach for the Sox. Brantford threatened in the 9th, with DeAndre Asbury-Heath stealing home after a Brantford strikeout, but that's where the rally ended. 

Starting pitcher for the Sox was Matt Martinow. He threw for 6 innings giving up 5 runs on 7 hits and walked two. Michael Bucci pitched the remainder of the game..

Despite the 4 early errors committed by Brantford, they made some great defensive plays over the course of the game. Sox turned a nice 4-6-3 double play in the bottom of the 3rd inning.  A bullet throw by Sox right fielder Deandre Asbury-Heath over to 3rd baseman Blake Kauer in the bottom of the 6th inning stopped a possible run by Kitchener. Asbury-Heath also made a great grab in the bottom of the 8th inning on a ball hit to  the right field fence.

Thank you to all the Brantford fans who made the trip to Jack Couch today. Great show of support for our boys.

Thank you to the entire Brantford Red Sox organization for all of your hard work this season. It’s very much appreciated. Kathy, no matter how many times you have done the games, you are always enthusiastic. Sherry, Mike, David, Paul, Wayne, Norm and the rest of the volunteers – your gift of time in making sure things go well on game day is appreciated by the fans. To the Pomerleau family, what can I say except you’ve made going to the games very much a family affair.

And to Wayne “The General” Forman, Tony and the rest of the coaching staff – thank you.

To our boys of summer – some of our paths will never cross again. Best of luck to you in the future. To the rest, see you next season.

Go Sox Go!

Box Score

Brantford Red Sox game recap brought to you by Davis Fuels