FC London men inch closer to promotion; Majors battle for positioning

Gameday in 5: A look to the week ahead — and a recap of the week that was (Aug. 6-11) — for London’s teams and athletes.

(Photo: Barry Field Photography).

* * *

FC London

Men

Coming into the week needing a big win for a shot at winning the League1 Championship Division, the FC London men’s squad managed just a draw, 3-3, against Unionville Milliken on Saturday.

All six goals were scored in the second half, with neither team able to break through in the first. Unionville struck first, scoring in the 52nd minute, but London’s Bai Essa Coker tied the game four minutes later. London continued to push offensively, and captain Ryan Baker’s penalty gave the team the lead. The squads traded goals in the final eight minutes of action, with Unionville tying the game and London taking a short-lived lead before the game was tied yet again in the late stages

With the draw, FC London can’t mathematically win the Championship Division, as the best they can do is earn a tie in points (but lose the tiebreaker based on matches vs. first-place TFC Academy this year). However, their focus is on earning promotion into the Premier Division for next year. Those hopes are very much alive, as FC London needs to earn just a single point in their remaining two games for promotion.

Up next:

Sat. Aug. 17 (5:00pm vs. BVB IA Waterloo)

London Majors

The Majors lost ground in the standings last week, losing two of three contests over the weekend — following their Civic Holiday win over Chatham-Kent last Monday.

Facing the Barrie Baycats in the first of a home-and-home series on Friday, London opened the week on the right foot, winning 3-0 thanks to strong pitching. Travis Keys, who started for London, logged eight strikeouts over seven scoreless innings. Skylar Janisse pitched the eighth, with Victor Payano closing the game and earning the save.

Kaiden Cardoso ignited the London offense in the seventh inning with a solo homer. The Majors added two more in the eighth with Cleveland Brownlee and Victor Plaz picking up RBIs. Each of Cardoso, Brownlee and Eduardo de Oleo finished with a pair of hits.

Looking to sweep the home-and-home, the Majors came up well short on Saturday, losing 14-4 on the road. After London took an early 2-0 in the second inning with RBIs from Brad Verhoeven and Gibson Krzeminski, Barrie quickly took control of the game. They scored six runs in the bottom of the second — and then added five in the 3rd inning and another three in the 4th. The Majors’ Jonathan Henry had a tough outing, allowing 11 runs (eight earned) in just 2 1/3 innings.

Trying to bounce back on Sunday, the Majors came up short against the Hamilton Cardinals, losing 4-3 in front of the home fans at Labatt Park. Down 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning, London scored three times to take the lead. Eduardo de Oleo jumpstarted the offense with an RBI single. Cleveland Brownlee kept the ball rolling with an RBI double, while a Byron Reichstein sac fly gave the team the lead. But Hamilton came back with two runs in the ninth — against arguably London’s top arm, Victor Payano, who took the loss. Starter Jose Arias pitched seven innings and allowed just two runs on eight hits. Drew Lawrence and de Oleo both had a pair of hits in the loss.

Up next:

The Majors (22-15), who enter a new week tied for third place in the IBL standings with Guelph, have a very busy stretch with five games in six days, beginning Tuesday in Hamilton. Three of those games will come against Guelph, which will likely decide who finishes higher in the standings.

Tues. Aug. 13 (7:35pm @ Hamilton Cardinals)
Wed. Aug. 14 (7:30pm @ Guelph Royals)
Fri. Aug. 16 (7:35pm vs. Guelph Royals)
Sat. Aug. 17 (7:30pm @ Guelph Royals)
Sun. Aug. 18 (2:00pm @ Kitchener Panthers)