P.E.I. juniors win twice on the road

It was a busy weekend on the road for the P.E.I. Little Caesars Islanders in the New Brunswick Junior Baseball League.

After sweeping a doubleheader against the Fredericton Royals on Saturday, the Islanders dropped a 4-3 decision in 13 innings to the Metro Mudcats in Moncton, N.B. The second game of the doubleheader against the Mudcats was rained out. It was the first meeting of the 2019 season between the top two squads in the five-team league.

Against Fredericton, the Islanders won 3-1 and 5-4 in nine innings.

MUDCATS 4 ISLANDERS 3 (13 INNINGS)

The Mudcats (12-3) loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 13th inning, but Islanders centre-fielder Noah Duckworth caught a fly ball and nailed the runner at the plate trying to score. Ben Druit then followed with a bloop single to win it.

The Islanders (11-7) had taken a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly from Ben MacDougall. A two-out single from winning pitcher Eric Oulette in the bottom half of the inning tied the game.

Duckworth led off the 12th with a triple, but the Islanders couldn’t cash him in.

P.E.I. starter and midget affiliate Tanner MacLean was outstanding. He went seven innings, struck out eight and allowed only six hits and one earned run to the powerful Mudcats. Chandler Laporte took over and also pitched six strong innings.

Connor McGregor had three hits for P.E.I. Other hits came from Hood, Hickey, MacDougall and Caissie. Druit, Nick Leblanc and Phil Rail each had two hits for the Mudcats

Metro and P.E.I. are scheduled to play five more times over the next week to finish the regular season. Two of those games will be played next Saturday at Memorial Field.

ISLANDERS 5 ROYALS 4 (9 INNINGS)

P.E.I. trailed 4-1 before scoring three times in the sixth inning to tie the game. The Islanders would score the winning run in the ninth on an RBI single from Gabe Penalver, who was also the winning pitcher.

Savidant started and pitched into the third inning, with Penalver working the last six for the short-handed Islanders. Penalver struck out eight and allowed only three hits.

Savidant, Penalver and Duckworth each had two hits while Garrett Hebert and Eric Anderson added singles.

Brendan Murphy took the pitching loss.

Adam Estey had two hits and three runs scored for Fredericton.

ISLANDERS 3 ROYALS 1

Elijah Hood led off the game with a double and Gavin Hickey followed with a tworun homer and the Islanders never looked back.

P.E.I. starter Patrick Gallant, who battled control problems, gutted out four innings, surrendering only one run for the win. John Savidant pitched three shutout innings for the save.

Savidant also went 4-for-4 at the plate. Hood and Hickey had two hits while Duckworth and Brett Caissie had one.

Sam Beaulieu suffered the pitching loss. Thomas Hoyt had two of the Royals’ three hits.