Team P.E.I. 0-2

After Day 1 of play at national 15-under championship

SUMMERSIDE – Team P.E.I. is off to a 0-2 (won-lost) start at the 2017 Ray Carter Cup.

The lone Island entry in Baseball Canada’s national 15-under championship opened roundrobin play at Queen Elizabeth Park on Thursday against British Columbia and New Brunswick.

A five-run second inning proved to be the difference in British Columbia’s 7-3 afternoon win. Then, in an evening game, New Brunswick counted four runs in the top of the first inning, and never looked back en route to a 14-3 victory in six innings.

P.E.I. is back in action against Ontario (0-1) on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

British Columbia 7 P.E.I. 3

At Very Important Volunteer (VIV) Field, P.E.I. turned a wellexecuted double-play to escape a first-inning jam. Second baseman Noah Dow fielded a hardhit grounder, and flipped the ball to shortstop Tobias Hood, whose relay throw to first base was dug out of the dirt by first baseman Tyler Taylor to keep the game scoreless.

P.E.I., which committed six errors that led to five unearned runs, took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Starting pitcher Matt Power led off with a double to centre field, and Jack MacKenzie reached on a fielder’s choice. Noah Dow’s grounder to pitcher Liam Bates scored Power, and MacKenzie later scored from third on an errant throw into left field on a pickoff attempt.

British Columbia answered back with five runs in the bottom half of the inning, keyed by a two-out, three-run blast that cleared the fence in left-centre field by Kyle Sands.

British Columbia added an unearned run in the fourth to go up 6-2, and P.E.I. got one run back in the fifth as Landon Clow’s sharp single to right field plated Hood.

B.C. closed out the scoring

with a single run in the fifth.

N.B. 14 P.E.I. 3

New Brunswick held a 5-2 lead after three innings, and then scored six runs in the fourth inning to put the game

out of reach.

Max Grant and Connor Hill each went 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in three runs to spark New Brunswick’s 16-hit attack. Clow (2-3, two runs scored, RBI), Carter MacNeil (1-1, two

walks, RBI) and Tobias Hood (1-3, run scored) were P.E.I.’s top offensive performers. Errors again proved costly for P.E.I., which committed six fielding miscues that led to eight unearned runs.

JASON SIMMONDS/JOURNAL PIONEER Team P.E.I. catcher Duncan Picketts receives a pitch as home-plate Wayne Hein is about to make a call during play in the 2017 Ray Carter Cup at Queen Elizabeth Park in Summerside on Thursday afternoon. British Columbia defeated Team P.E.I. 7-3 in the...

JASON SIMMONDS/JOURNAL PIONEER Team P.E.I.’s Landon Clow and assistant coach Carl Picketts chat at first base during a break in the action of Thursday afternoon’s action at the 2017 Ray Carter Cup. Clow had just singled to score P.E.I.’s third run in the top of the fifth inning. The...

JASON SIMMONDS/JOURNAL PIONEER Kai Sands of British Columbia trots home after launching a three-run blast over the fence in left-centre field in the bottom of the second inning. Sands gave British Columbia a 5-2 lead over Team P.E.I. at the 2017 Ray Carter Cup at Queen Elizabeth...