The COBA Major Baseball League kicked off their 2026 season on chilly Friday night with a pair of contests. The 2026 Ontario Elimination Tournament finalist Etobicoke Rangers opened with a walk-off 8 - 7 win over the Brampton Royals while the Erindale Cardinals took a slugfest 18 - 16 over the Oakville A's at Oakville Park. 

At Connorvale Park, Tanner Young-Schultz played hero on this evening as it was his 2-run double in the bottom of the 8th inning that gave the Rangers the slight margin of victory. Brampton would grab the lead early in this one as they plated a run in the top of the 1st inning on an RBI single from Aidan Murphy. They would hold that lead until the bottom of the 3rd inning when Etobicoke would score three runs on a pair of Brampton errors to claim a 3 - 1 lead.

Brampton would knot the game up 3 - 3 in the top of the 4th inning with a pair of runs on RBI singles from Caleb Chramow and Jayden Jeminson. The Rangers would reclaim the lead in the bottom of the 5th inning as the scored a single run on an RBI ground out from David Boatto. That lead would disappear in the top of the 7th inning as Brampton would score two runs on a fielders choice and an error to reclaim a 5 - 4 lead.

The Rangers would tie the game 5 - 5 in the bottom of the 7th inning as they would score a run on another Brampton fielding error. Brampton would score two runs in the top of the 8th inning on a wild pitch and an RBI single from Logan Janes. The Rangers would use a pair of walks and a single to plate one run in the 8th setting up Young-Schultz for his heroics and game winning double. 

At Oakville Park, the Erindale Cardinals used a late 2-point conversation in collecting the win over the Oakville A's in a long back and forth affair at Oakville Park. The A's would strike first in this one as they scored two runs in the bottom of the 1st on a solo HR from Adam Doyle and an RBI single from Nick Jaeggin. They would extend that lead to 5 - 0 on Adam Doyle's second solo HR in the 2nd inning and a 2-run single from veteran Marc Walton in the 3rd inning.

Erindale would eat into that lead in the 4th inning as they would plate three runs on a single, an RBI groundout and an error cutting the lead to 5 - 3. They would then take the lead 6 - 5 in the 5th inning as they would score three more runs on an error, a single and a bases loaded walk. Oakville would then reclaim the lead in the bottom of that frame scoring nine runs with two outs highlighted by Adam Doyle's third HR of the evening to right center field.

Not phased, Erindale would go to work in the top of the 6th inning though plating six runs of their own and cutting the lead down to 14 - 12. Oakville would get RBI singles from Nick Jaeggin and Vic Christensen in the bottom of the 6th inning to extend the lead to 16 - 12. The Cardinals would take the lead for good in the top of the 7th inning plating another six runs and taking an 18 - 16 lead. Oakville would get a couple of runners on in the bottom of the 7th inning but Easton Kirkpatrick would keep the A's off the board earning the win for Erindale. 

Week two action in the COBA Major Baseball League will see the schedule kick into full swing with nine games on the docket. Action will kick off on Sunday night with a Mother's Day battle between the Oakville A's (0 - 1) and the season opener for the Waterloo Tigers (0 - 0). First pitch is slated for 6:30pm.