Late-Inning Heroics Power Leafs to 9–8 Comeback Win

By Noam Streiffer

The Maple Leafs continued their hot streak, winning in dramatic fashion over the Brantford Red Sox on Sunday afternoon.

Coming off a 2–0 road trip, the Leafs returned home to Dominico Field looking to build on recent success and win their first home game of the season—and they did just that in a crucial 9–8 victory.

Sunday marked the IBL debut of Drew Howard, who got the start for the Leafs. Howard struggled, surrendering two home runs and five earned runs over two innings of work.

On the Brantford side, Nicholai Arbach got the rock. He got off to a slow start, surrendering four runs in the first three innings, but settled in to give the Red Sox five innings of quality baseball—something they desperately needed after a blowout loss the night before.

The scoring started early. In the top of the first, Tim Holyk got to Howard, tattooing a ball to deep left-center field to put the Red Sox up 2–0.

The Leafs answered back in the very same inning. Rando Moreno came in to score on a failed pickoff attempt that resulted in a balk being called on Arbach, cutting the deficit to one.

This did not sway the Red Sox, who put up three more runs in the top of the second—scoring on a sacrifice fly from Ethan Paulos, followed by a two-run home run from Christian Ortega to give the Red Sox an early 5–1 lead.

The Leafs continued to chip away. Ryan Dos Santos stole second, which allowed Dan Marra to come in to score on a heads-up play on the basepaths to bring the score to 5–2.

Adam Jafine came in to relieve Howard and locked down the Red Sox in the third, giving the Leafs a chance to make up some ground. They did just that, scoring two on a solo shot from Justin Marra and a bases-loaded walk to Matt Brandt to cut the lead to one.

Brantford would keep pouring it on. In the top of the fourth, Tim Holyk hit his second two-run homer of the day to give Brantford a 7–4 lead.

Things stayed quiet until the bottom of the seventh, when Dan Marra tied the game with a dramatic three-run home run. His brother Justin praised the clutch moment: “He put a good swing on that ball, and it was a huge home run for us.”

Tied 7–7 in the eighth, Jordan Castaldo came to the plate sitting on 99 career regular season home runs and blasted his 100th over the fence in left field to give the Leafs their first lead of the day.

Castaldo, showcasing every manager's dream mentality, stayed calm and confident in his approach. “The guys were mentioning it…I'm just up there trying to put a good swing on the ball …I wasn't even thinking about it, but to see it going over the fence was a good feeling.”

The Leafs continued to add on with Justin Marra’s second home run of the game to give them a two-run lead heading into the ninth inning.

Taylor Lepard came in for the save opportunity and, after surrendering a solo home run, shut things down to secure the 9–8 victory for the Leafs.

Credit also goes to the Leafs’ middle relievers. Jeremy Newton, Chris Nagorski, and Ayami Sato combined for three innings of shutout ball to give the Leafs an excellent opportunity to come back.

Coming up next: Friday Night Lights!
The Leafs take on the Guelph Royals at Dominico Field. First pitch: Friday, June 6th at 7:30 PM.