Panthers Win Thriller Via Walk-Off Home Run

The Kitchener Panthers welcomed their longtime rivals, the Barrie Baycats, to Jack Couch Park for the first matchup of the season between the two squads on Sunday afternoon. The back and forth contest did not disappoint as the teams produced another thriller that went down to the wire.

Trailing by 3 runs entering into the bottom of the 9th, the Panthers bats came alive to produce a 5 run rally, capped off by a no doubt walk-off home run off the bat of designated hitter, Keegan Marsden.

It was a fitting end to a back and forth contest which produced several lead changes in front of a lively home crowd at Jack Couch Park.

Much of the Baycats offence came via a pair of 3 run home runs, hit in the 4th and 8th innings while the Panthers scored single runs in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th before finally breaking things open with 5 in the 9th to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

On the mound, the stat line didn’t tell the full story for Jose Vasquez who was charged with 6 earned runs in 7.1 innings of work. Aside from falling victim to a 3 run home run in the 4th and a 3 run home run hit in the 8th inning after he had left the game with a pair of runners on base, Jose looked strong in his outing and recorded 8 strikeouts.

Brady Schnarr earned the victory on the mound, throwing a scoreless 9th inning as he now improves to 1 and 0 on the season.

Offensively, Keegan Marsden played the hero as he plated two runs on the walk-off home run and earned himself a water jug shower at home plate for his efforts.

As a team, this was the Panthers 6th time in 8 games hitting the double digit runs scored mark as they tallied a combined 14 hits. Andy Leader went 4 for 5 with an RBI, Raul Gonzalez and Yunior Ibarra each hit a home run and had 2 RBI, Liam Wilson went 2 for 4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI and Blake Jacklin and Jett Jarvis continued their strong seasons at the top and bottom of the order picking up a pair of hits each. Klaus Aplevich also picked up a hit and his first stolen base of the season in the contest. With the win, the Panthers held onto 1st place in the league with a record of 6 and 2.

Looking Ahead

The Panthers are entering into their busiest stretch of the season as they will have played 6 games in 8 days when all is said and done.

The team will hit the road to face the Guelph Royals on Tuesday evening in a makeup date for a rained out game on opening weekend.

The Brantford Red Sox will then visit the Panthers at Jack Couch Park on Thursday the 8th for a 7:30 PM first pitch.

The next two contests will be on the road visiting London on Friday evening for the first matchup of the season between the two teams before heading out to Barrie for a late afternoon contest against the Baycats on Saturday.

And to finish things off, The Panthers will enjoy some home cooking on Sunday afternoon as they return back to Jack Couch Park for a 2:00 PM showdown against the Barrie Baycats for the 3rd meeting in 7 days between the two teams.

Tickets for our Thursday and Sunday home games can be purchased at kitchenerpanthers.com under the tickets tab .