Lining up lefties

Islanders have two southpaws ready for tonight’s game with Moncton

The Charlottetown Gaudet’s Auto Body Islanders put their six-game win streak on the line at home tonight against the Moncton Fisher Cats.

Game time for the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League contest is 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Field.

Dan O’Shea gets his first start since no-hitting the Saint John Alpines on July 4.

“I held Dan back last weekend because he’s left-handed and Moncton has a lot of good lefthanded sticks,” Islanders coach Keith Craswell said Monday.

South-paw Brody McDonald, who threw an inning during Saturday’s doubleheader, is also available.

“We’re going to set up two lefties for them tomorrow and see where that gets us.”

While the Isles swept the Alpines on Saturday, the 10-day break appeared to impact their offence. They only had one hit in Game 1 and won the second game in the bottom of the seventh.

“We have to be better than we were last weekend, although we put some balls in play hard,” Craswell said.

He said there was some rustiness, leading to guys starting to press and swing at bad pitches in the first game. He said he was pleased with the improvement as the day progressed.

“You’ve got to win the ugly games too,” he said. “We toughed it out. We only had one hit and we ended up with a victory, so as a coach you have to be pretty happy.”

Craswell said he is pleased with the production from platoon players at the bottom of the lineup.

“Every time they’re in there, they’re chipping in.”

The Islanders (14-7) are in a virtual tie with the Fredericton Royals (15-8) for first place while Moncton (10-7) is third.

Charlottetown travels to Fredericton for a potential firstplace showdown Saturday, but those two games will have to wait.

“Tomorrow is the next game in front of us and that’s the one we have to win,” Craswell said. “Moncton is tough and they’re on a roll as well.”