Sr. Islanders drop three games
Moncton pulls out win in extra innings, Fredericton sweeps doubleheader
It was a tough weekend for the Charlottetown Gaudet’s Auto Body Islanders in the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League.
The Islanders lost three road games over two days. The Moncton Fisher Cats prevailed 2-1 in nine innings on Sunday night, and the Fredericton Royals used a pair of rookie righthanders to add to the Islanders’ hitting woes.
Sunday
The Fisher Cats scored in the seventh inning to force extra innings.
Moncton had runners on first and second base with one out in the ninth inning, and Luc Vautour delivered an RBI single for the winning run as Moncton improved to 5-6 (won-lost).
Last-place Charlottetown is 2-9.
Juan Ortiz was the winning pitcher and Jake Beck took the loss.
The game was a terrific battle between left-handed pitchers Sam Lund of Moncton and Brodie McDonald of Charlottetown. McDonald allowed one hit, no runs, four walks and had four strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings. Lund surrendered five hits, one run, three walks and had 13 strikeouts over eight innings.
McDonald had a leadoff double in the fourth inning, and scored on Spencer Montgomery’s two-out single to give Charlottetown a 1-0 lead.
Justin Cormier had a oneout single, stole second base and moved to third base on a groundout in the bottom of the seventh inning. Markus Coates hit the ball down the third base line and was safe at first base, thanks to a bobbled ball, allowing the tying run to score.
Saturday
The Royals swept Saturday’s
doubleheader, winning 4-1 behind Colby Lyle’s two-hitter in the first game and 3-0 on Nick Gaudet’s six-hit shutout in the nightcap. Fredericton is 5-4.
What’s worse, all eight of the Islanders hits were singles as their team batting average went from bad (.192) to worse (.186).
“That’s about the way our luck’s been going lately,” Charlottetown skipper Keith Craswell said. “The last two weeks, we’ve had all kinds of pitching and defence, but we just can’t
string any hits together.”
Pascal McCarthy had both game-winning RBIs, and is hitting .350 (7-for-20) with seven walks.
Royals slugger Jody Peterson, who retired at the end of last season, was behind the plate in the first game and went 1-for-3 with a double against Charlottetown starter Jordan Stevenson, who retired the first 13 batters before giving up three runs in the fourth.
“It’s nice to see good players in the league,” Craswell said of Peterson. “I know myself, as you get a little older, it’s hard to take the cleats off sometimes. If he’s still healthy and he can still play, why not?”
The Islanders got their lone run in he second inning of the first game. Brady Arsenault singled through the right side, was safe at second when Lyle threw away Taylor Larkin’s comebacker, then scored on a pair of wild pitches.
Fredericton finally figured out Stevenson in the fourth.
Left-fielder Kyle MacDougall made a great leaping catch against the fence to rob Dave Barr, but Mike Washburn singled to right field and Peterson slashed a double into the left field corner.
After Washburn scored on a wild pitch and Aaron Johnson walked, McCarthy hit a 2-2 pitch the opposite way for a two-run single and a 3-1 lead.
The Royals tacked on an unearned insurance run in the fifth.
Game 2
In the rematch, Stevenson and Larkin were both 2-for-3 against Gaudet, who didn’t walk anyone.
Charlottetown southpaw Colin Arsenault matched Gaudet’s six-hitter, but the Royals bunched three of them in a tworun fourth.
Washburn (4-6) hiked his league-best batting average to .440. McDonald made a tremendous running catch in left centre to deny Aaron Johnson of extra bases, but McCarthy slapped an RBI single through the right side, Lyle singled to left and Shane Kraemer made it 2-0 with an RBI groundout.
Washburn led off the sixth belting his league-leading fourth home run.