Jackfish best Baycats to take 2-1 IBL Finals lead

By ROD MAWHOOD

The Welland Jackfish bested the Barrie Baycats 3-2 to take a 2-1 best-of-seven IBL Finals lead Thursday night in the Rose City.

Baseball purists would have appreciated what transpired in this one, as both starters pitched deep into the game.

In fact, Welland's Teodoro Ortega carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and was still pitching into the ninth, while Juan Benitez was solid through seven innings.

Jackfish left-fielder Brandon Hupe brought the 2,097 fans into a frenzy with an inside the park home run to start the scoring.

Hupe would finish the game with three hits, while Clayton Keyes broke up Ortega's no-no with a solo shot. Barrie would manage just three hits the entire game as Pedro De Los Santos recorded the save for Welland.

"That was just a great ball game, by both teams" proclaimed Jackfish Manager Brian Essery. "Both starting pitchers were excellent. Teo (Ortega) dominated for eight innings and Pedro shut it down.

Hupe was the catalyst for our offence tonight - big home run early.

We appreciate the fans who have carried us throughout the playoffs. Big thanks to them."

Speaking of the fans, the Jackfish are running a fan bus to Barrie for Game 4 Saturday night, while tickets to Sunday's Game 5 - back in Welland are on sale now.

Visit wellandjackfish.com or by calling 905-735-9834.