Unearned runs costly
Junior Islanders make five errors in loss to Saint John
The P.E.I. Junior Islanders went 1-3 during weekend home games in New Brunswick Junior Baseball League action.
The Islanders (14-6) have four regular season games remaining and they are all on the road. They head to Moncton Saturday to play a doubleheader with the first-place Metro Mudcats after being swept by them Saturday in Charlottetown.
Sunday
Porter Smith pitched a complete game three-hitter as P.E.I. defeated the Saint John Alpines 9-2 in Game 1 of Sunday’s doubleheader in Summerside.
Logan Gallant had four hits and Brandon Watts added three more off of starter Matt Nason.
In Game 2, Nason’s twin brother, Ryan, threw seven solid innings for Saint John in a 6-1 win.
Nason overcame five errors behind him while surrendering seven hits.
P.E.I. starter Spencer Horne was also victimized by his defence, which committed five errors leading to five unearned runs. Horne allowed seven hits and struck out six.
Aaron Fournier and R.J. Osman each had two hits for the visitors.
Watts had two hits for P.E.I.
Saturday
The Islanders lost two six-inning leads in Saturday’s doubleheader in Charlottetown to the Mudcats in a battle of the league leaders.
Metro improved to 13-2. Shawn Bartley’s two-run triple in the top of six gave Metro a 3-1 win in the opener.
Starter Jesse Malone (Moncton) and Johnny Arsenault (P.E.I.) had been locked in a pitchers dual through five with P.E.I. holding a 1-0 lead.
Arsenault went the distance, allowing five hits and striking out four. Malone pitched into the seventh until Dom Tardiff got the save in the game, which ended on an interference call as Ryne MacIsaac tried to prevent a double play from being turned.
Connor McGregor and Elijah Hood started the Islanders seventh-inning rally with singles to turn the lineup over. J.J. Oram flew out to centre before MacIsaac singled to load the bases. Darcy Affleck grounded out to second base to end the rally.
MacIsaac had two hits for P.E.I., which jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first. Oram and Affleck each added hits for the home side while Declan Buckel had two hits for Metro.
P.E.I., behind starter Brett Hicken, took a 2-1 lead into sixth inning of Game 2 until Metro pushed across two runs in each of the sixth and seventh for a 5-2 win.
MacIsaac singed and reached base four times for P.E.I. while Arsenault, Affleck, Gallant and McGregor each had a single hit.
Jeremie Arsenau paced Metro with three hits whole Dylan Logan and Shaun Bartley each had two.