Written By Brian Lockhart

The boys of summer are back. 

The crack of the bat and the cheers on a big hit will be heard at local baseball diamonds all summer long.

The Mansfield Junior Cubs hosted their home opener against the Orangeville Bengals on the diamond in Mansfield on Sunday, May 8, in a high scoring game.

The Bengals were first to bat with Cubs pitcher Aidan Pain starting on the mound.

Orangeville Bengals scored a single in the first inning for the first scoring of
the season.

Bryce Cameron was the first batter for the Cubs this season getting on base with a single in the first inning.

Orangeville had a big second inning scoring six runs to take the lead.

The Mansfield Cubs were back in the game when they went to bat in the bottom of the second, starting with Bryce Cameron driving in a run to put the Cubs on the scoreboard.

That was followed by a hit to deep centre field by Luke Dunmore to bring in the second run.

With the bases loaded, Cody Bryan hit a line drive down the third base line to bring in two Cubs runners.

The Cubs put up a solid defence in the third inning stopping the Bengals from scoring.

A dinger to midfield brought in another Cubs run to make it a 6-5 game.

From there, both teams got the bats moving with a lot of hitting and scoring for the rest of the game.

The final was an 18-16 win for Orangeville to start the season.

There are eight teams in the Junior Division of the North Dufferin Baseball League this season.

Teams from Mansfield, Orangeville, Barrie, Caledon, Creemore, Georgina, Midland, and Orillia will battle it out on the diamonds this summer.

The Junior Cubs will be back on the diamond in Mansfield on Thursday, May 19, when they will host the Georgina Bulldogs.

The first pitch is being scheduled for 6:30 p.m.