Will Richards drove in five and Craig Bate threw a complete game five-hitter as the London Majors took game one of the best-of-seven playoffs series with a convincing 11-1 win at Christie Pits on Sunday afternoon.

In the first inning, London’s offence provided all the runs Bate would need when Richards turned on a slider and drove the ball deep to right field for his first home run of the post season.

Drew Taylor (0-1) took the loss going six innings, charged with six runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out three.

The Toronto offence led the Intercounty Baseball League in with 399 hits during the regular season but could only manage five hits. Gamin Teague had three hits for the Leafs while Raul Borjas and Dan Gibbons had the others.

The loss ends the Leafs’ five-game winning streak.

London starter Craig Bate (1-0) surrendered five hits while striking out three.

The Majors collected 13 hits. Richards had a big day at the plate with four hits and three runs scored in five at-bats. Chris Chambers had two hits, three runs scored and one RBI.

London is 4-1 against Toronto this year.

A quick start by the London offence and quality starting pitching proved too much for the Leafs to overcome.

London opened the scoring with four in the top of the first inning. Jordan Drieling walked and Kyle Piwowarczyk singled. After a fly out, Chambers singled home Drieling and Richards hammered a pitch to right field for a three-run shot.

“He hit a slider,” Taylor said. “He was a little out-front but he got his front foot down and he put a pretty good swing on it and it went out. When you’re playing at Christie Pits and you get under a baseball, you have a pretty good chance of hitting it out of here.”

“When you start a playoff series on the wrong foot it’s so hard to fight back and get into it,” Leafs catcher Damon Topolie said. “The one guy (Richards) killed us, he had four hits, he just put us away.”

The four-run cushion allowed Bate to relax and throw strikes. He stymied the Leafs with excellent location and good movement on his fastball.

“It’s great (to get the lead),” Bate said. “You know your team went out there and gave you an advantage and it takes a lot of pressure off your shoulders. You’re not trying to strike guys out, the more the guys (other team) put it in play the better on the pitch count.”

Bate allowed a lead-off single to Raul Borjas in the second and proceeded to set down 12 of the next 14 hitters, not allowing a runner to reach second until a Teague one out double in the sixth.

“I got ahead of a lot of guys,” Bate said. “I got the first guy out almost every inning, so starting the inning with one out is a huge advantage. I was around the zone the entire game.”

After a rough start Taylor settled down and retired 12 consecutive until the sixth when he issued a one-out walk to Chambers, followed by a two-run blast to right by Richards to make the score 6-1.

“Drew started hitting his spots but he made two mistakes and Richards hits two home runs,” Topolie said.

“There is no question I have to figure a way to get that guy out (Richards), Taylor said. “If I take away the long ball it’s a totally different baseball game.”

London added three in the eighth and two in the ninth to put a cap on the rout.

The Leafs broke the shut out in the eighth when Teague lined a pitch over the right-field fence.

Game three is Wednesday night at Christie Pits. First pitch scheduled for 7:30 p.m.