Kitchener out to stop Intercounty Baseball League title run by Barrie

The Kitchener Panthers will battle the Barrie Baycats in the Intercounty Baseball League finals. Photo: Dan Congdon

August 26, 2019

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Dean Castelli is going with experience.

The Hamilton Cardinals manager said the five-time defending champion Barrie Baycats are the team to beat in the Intercounty Baseball League final against the Kitchener Panthers, beginning Aug. 27 in Barrie.

"It's hard to bet against Barrie,'' Castelli said in an interview. "They've won five championships in a row. Barrie loves this time of the year. They bring their best all the time.''

Castelli's team was beaten in four straight in the semi-finals by the Panthers while the Baycats took the minimum four games to eliminate the Welland Jackfish in the other semi-final slate.

The Panthers are thirsty for the league championship because they have gone without the champagne since winning back-to-back titles in 2000-2001. They know it will be a mighty hurdle to beat the Baycats, whose run of championships followed a six-year, consecutive streak by the Brantford Red Sox.

During the 36-game regular season, the Panthers tied the Baycats with identical 25-11 records, forcing a tiebreaker game to decide first place. Barrie won the extra game 4-2.

This is the third straight year the two teams have met in the league final and the fourth time in the last five years. In 2017, the Baycats swept the Panthers and last year, Barrie won in six games.

"Our strategy is straight forward and simple,'' Panthers manager Luke Baker said. "We just want to stick to our game, be fundamental and sound in our approaches. Anyone can be beaten. We really want to take it to them.

"We feel we have the team to make it happen. We're a bit of an underdog. If we do it, it makes it so much more enjoyable. Barrie is obviously a tough team. We have a lot of respect for them because they are a great ball club.''

Talking of experience, the Baycats boast nine players still with the team, who played on all five consecutive championships from 2014-18: 2019 Triple Crown winner Jordan Castaldo, Kevin Atkinson, Brad Bissell, Jeff Cowan, Kyle DeGrace, Branfy Infante, Adam Hawes, Stevie Lewis and Ryan Spataro. Bissell and Spataro also played on Barrie's championship squad in 2005.

"We have that core group of guys who make up the majority of our team,'' Baycats manager and general manager Angus Roy said. "They absolutely control the clubhouse and help recruit other players. Up and down, I can't say enough about them as ball players, as people they are, and what they mean to the organization.''

Also a huge part of the team from 2014-2018 has been Roy, who actually has been manager since 2007 and assumed the GM duties in 2014. He was part of the winning team in 2005 as a player.

The Panthers have a group of imports, all from Cuba in some nifty negotiations orchestrated by GM Mike Boehmer, while the Baycats boast a number of players from the Dominican Republic.

Both Baker and Roy agree that the final will be a tightly fought affair with no anticipated blowouts that were typical in semi-final action. All that means is that games will likely be close.

"When the games are tight, it makes for good baseball,'' Baker said.

"You've got two, extremely well matched teams, two quality teams,'' Roy said. "Both teams are great in pitching and on offence and defence.

"I don't know how many scoring opportunities there will be. I can't see the teams putting up the offensive numbers we saw in the semi-finals. I think we will play a lot of one-run games. I think you will see 4-2, 5-3, 2-1 type games.''

"Kitchener is really, really good so we have our work cut out for us.''

Said Boehmer, "We're playing good and we will need to be at our absolute best to defeat Barrie.''