The underdog Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off a massive upset on the weekend, coming from behind to stun the regular season champion London Majors 10-6 in Sunday’s game seven for a berth in the final against the defending champion Barrie Baycats.
The best-of-seven series gets underway Tuesday night at Coates Stadium, with the first pitch at 7:30 p.m.
London led 5-4 going into the ninth, but the Leafs tied the game when Connor Lewis doubled home a run. Grant Tamane gave the Leafs the lead with a two-run homer off a light pole in left field. Sean Mattson added an RBI single and Ryan White singled home a pair to finish the inning.
As for Roy, he’s being cautious not to give Damon Topolie’s club anything for their bulletin board.
“It is difficult for me to comment about any other team or series because I wasn’t there during any game to see what was really happening,” Roy tells Barrie Today. However, “from the couch, it looks like Toronto just made less mistakes. Usually at this stage in the season, the team that plays cleaner baseball wins and Toronto did that.”
Roy, a former pitcher, shows nothing but respect for Toronto’s bats.
“The Leafs are an outstanding offensive team. They are never out of a game, especially in their own park (Christie Pits). They have probably the best offensive tandem in the league in (Jon) Waltenbury and (Dan) Marra so limiting their RBI opportunities will be paramount to our success.”
The Baycats had lots of time to prepare for their next opponent, regardless of who it might be, having polished off the second-seeded Kitchener Panthers in an astonishing four-game sweep. As for whether it’s better to rest up before a big series, or jump right in, as the Leafs are doing, Roy shows no preference.
“We have done everything in previous years, whether it be play right away or have a layoff like we did and none of it really matters. The team that plays the best baseball will win this series.”
And the key to beating this Leaf team is to rely on starting pitching and sound defence, which has carried the club all year.
“If (Emelis) Guerrero, (Matthew) St. Kitts, and (Adam) Rowe are good, we will be very difficult to beat.”
