Majors fall short of come back

Written by Dan Haugh/ photo by Morgan Roobroeck 

The London Majors got a preview of what they might expect to see in the 2024 IBL playoffs as they lost to the defending Champion Welland Jackfish by a 6-4 score Saturday afternoon at Welland Stadium.

Jackfish starter Enrique Saldana pitched 5 ⅔ innings, striking out nine Majors batters to pick up his fourth win of the season. Deivy Mendez pitched two scoreless innings to record his sixth save of the 2024 season.

Travis Keys got off to a shaky start on the mound for London. He gave up four earned runs in his four innings of work before handing the ball to Skylar Janisse with the Jackfish up 5-1. Janisse pitched three scoreless innings. Jaryd Lund and Daniel Gore combined to pitch the eighth inning, and gave up one run giving Welland their 6-4 leading heading into the bottom of the ninth inning.

London´s offence came by way of the long ball in the fourth and sixth innings. Byron Reichstein led off the fourth inning with his fourth home run of the season.

The Majors then put together a three-run rally in the sixth inning. Eduardo De Oleo led off with a single and moved to second base on a Victor Plaz single to left field. Gibson Krzeminski cleared the bases with a line-drive home run to right field that brought London to within one run of Welland at 5-4.

Eduardo De Oleo, Byron Reichstein and Tristan Osika each had two hits. Ty Mosher, Victor Plaz, Gibson Krzeminski and Champ Garner each contributed one hit to London´s 10-hit attack.

Kaiden Cardoso´s 20-game hit streak came to an end, but he will have a chance to get another streak started on Sunday afternoon when the London Majors travel to Jack Couch Stadium in

Kitchener to face the Panthers in a doubleheader. The first game is a continuation of a game suspended by rain in the third inning on June 6th with Kitchener leading 1-0.