Islanders win opener in five innings
Keith Craswell couldn’t have asked for a better start. The Charlottetown Guadet’s Auto Body Islanders scored early and often in routing the Newfoundland and Labrador entry 13-1 in five innings Thursday to open the Canadian senior men’s baseball championship in Fredericton, N.B. “Jumping out and getting runs early, especially five in the first inning, takes a lot of the pressure off,” said Craswell, the Islanders head coach. “The first game is always the one where you try and get the butterflies out, so scoring five runs in the top of the first was huge.” Mark Phillips had an RBI double to make it 2-0 in the top of the first while Brody McDonald followed with a run-scoring single and Josh McKinnon a two-run double.
But it was a fielder’s choice by Sean Corcoran to open the scoring that Craswell pointed to as a turning point. With one out and the bases loaded, Corcoran hit a ground ball to second baseman Brent Power, who threw to second for the second out, but the St. John’s Capitals couldn’t complete the double play to get out of the inning. “Sean hustled down the line and got us Phillips to the plate,” Craswell said. “Sometimes it’s not the big hits, sometimes it’s just a little bit of hustle.” Charlottetown added four runs in each of the third and fourth innings and cruised to victory.
Phillips, the pick up from the Saint John Alpines, was 3-for-4 with a single, double, home run and three RBI. “Mark was everything we could ask of him today,” Craswell said of the left-fielder. “It was a great start for him.” McKinnon, the designated hitter, was also 3-for-4 with two doubles, a single and two RBI. He hit ninth in the lineup and combined with McDonald and Morgan MacLean to go 7-for-9, score five runs and drive in six. Jordan Stevenson allowed an unearned run on four hits while striking out three in four innings. Justin Cormier threw the final inning to close out the game. Craswell said Stevenson pitched well despite some long breaks. “You’re warmed up and then you’re sitting on the bench for a half an hour and then you have to go back out and throw,” he said. Greg Barry allowed five runs in one and a third innings for the loss as Newfoundland and Labrador used four pitchers. The Islanders play Manitoba today at 2:30 p.m. with McDonald slated to start.