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EARLY ERRORS COST CARDINALS

Hamilton finished off their regular season series with the Burlington Herd on Tuesday night in IBL action at Bernie Arbour Stadium. Three early errors by the Cardinals would cost the team a chance at a victory even after scoring three runs in the seventh inning as the Herd left with a 9-4 win. This is the first time since the 2012 season that Hamilton has lost a regular season series with a team from Burlington, but the Cardinals lead the all-time series 22-17.

The Herd jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. In the first, Justin Gideon led off with a walk and moved around to third with two stolen bases before opening the scoring by crossing the plate on and error. John Whaley then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to give his team a 2-0 lead. Burlington would add another run on a bases loaded walk in the second. Then in the third a sacrifice fly by Andrew Mercier and an RBI single from Matt McCue extended the visitor’s lead to five runs.

The Cardinals would break up the shutout in the fifth. Marcus Dicenzo led off the inning with a double off the left field fence and moved up 90-feet when Jake Foden grounded out. Luke Tevlin would then hit a sacrifice fly to centre to score Dicenzo.

Burlington would once again extend their lead, scoring four times in the seventh. The home side would also score in the seventh, adding three runs. Mike Hart would single to centre to score the first run in the bottom half of the seventh and was followed by a TJ Baker single and a Connor Bowie RBI single.

Unfortunately, that was all the scoring for the game. With the loss, Hamilton will finish the season in seventh place and will face the second place team, which is the Kitchener Panthers at the time, in the first round of the IBL playoffs which will being sometime next week.

For Hamilton, Jackson Jones started the game and took the loss, going five innings, allowing five runs, only two were earned, on three hits, eight walks while striking out two. Kyle Adoranti would take over for Jones to start the sixth, allowing four runs on five hits and walking three over an inning and a third. Ben Reid pitched the final two and two-thirds innings, walking two and striking out three of the nine batters he faced without giving up a hit or a run.

For the Herd, Rich Corrente picked up the win, allowing one run on four hits, walking two and striking out three over six innings. Kyle Symington finished off the last three innings, allowing three runs on three hits, walking one and striking out three.

The Cardinals next game is at home on Friday night when they host the Brantford Red Sox starting at 7:30 PM.

Winning Pitcher: Rich Corrente (2-3)
Losing Pitcher: Jackson Jones (0-3)

Burlington Hitters
Matt McCue – 1 for 2 (Single, 2 Walks, Hit by Pitch, Strikeout, Run, RBI)
Justin Gideon – 1 for 3 (Single, 3 Walks, 2 Stolen Bases, 2 Runs, RBI)
John Whaley – 1 for 4 (Single, Sacrifice Fly, 2 RBIs)

Hamilton Hitters
Connor Bowie – 2 for 3 (2 Singles, Walk, RBI)
Mike Hart – 2 for 4 (2 Singles, Hit by Pitch, Run, RBI)
TJ Baker – 2 for 5 (2 Singles, Strikeout)

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