GUELPH ROYALS 4, TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 2

By Mike Radoslav

On a rainy afternoon at Dominico Field, the Maple Leafs continued their slide down the IBL standings, posting a 4–2 loss to the visiting Guelph Royals.

A sparse crowd braved the dark clouds and intermittent rain to come out and support the Leafs, but a lack of run support once again came back to haunt the Toronto side.

Guelph pitcher David Hatt had the Leafs number for much of the game. Toronto’s Rob Gillis was the only player who found some success against Hatt. Gillis singled and scored in the third inning off a Glen Johnson hit, and connected on a solo home run in the fifth.

Beyond that the Leafs failed to pose much of a threat, registering eight hits on the day, but also finding their baserunners picked off, thrown out at the bag or hitting into double plays.

“You have to give [Hatt] credit, it was a pretty good ballgame he threw at us,” said Leafs manager Tim Harkness. “They legitimately beat us.”

While the Leafs are still searching for a way to reawaken their bats, the Royals found success with the long ball off Toronto starter Marek Deska.

Three Guelph players hit solo home runs. After the Royals opened the scoring in the third off lead-off hitter Frankie Hare’s RBI single, Josh Garton hit a solo blast in the fourth. Hare followed by Tyler Wheeler, also cranked back-to-back solo shots in the fifth inning to open a 4-1 lead.

Deska pitched six innings in the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits, with seven strikeouts and two walks. He was relieved by

Hatt went eight plus innings for the Royals, allowing two runs on eight hits, striking out four and walking two batters. Andrew Van Wout came in during the ninth inning to record the save for Guelph.

Harkness said the Leafs are showing signs of a team in a slump, and they simply have to find a way to work themselves out of it.

“We lost [Dan] Gibbons, I think he was the leader of the team, we lost him and it took something out of us,” Harkness said. “We get down and we seem to stay down.”

Centre fielder Gibbons was injured in a game against the Brantford Red Sox on May 20 and was out of the lineup for the game.

Harkness said he does seem some daylight with a couple of the players.

“We just have to keep plugging away,” Harkness said. “I’ll never quit on these guys, and hopefully we’ll get something going.”

The Leafs now sport a 3–8 record, sitting at the bottom of the IBL standings.