PLAYOFF TIME
Junior Islanders finish regular season by losing three of four to top-ranked Mudcats
Junior Islanders finish regular season by losing three of four to top-ranked Mudcats.
The P.E.I. Little Caesars Islanders finished the New Brunswick Junior Baseball League regular season by taking one of four games with the first-place Metro Mudcats on the weekend.
The Islanders (12-12) finish in third place and will play the second-place Saint John Alpines in the best-of-five semifinal that begins next weekend in the Harbour City.
Here’s a recap of the Islanders’ final regular season games. The teams were battling to get the games in before the end of the season, so one game was worth four points in the standings and two of the four games were scheduled for five innings to preserve pitching.
FRIDAY IN MONCTON P.E.I. 9, METRO 8
The back-and-forth contest saw the Islanders pull out the 9-8 win with two runs in the top of the seventh inning in a game that was originally slated for five innings.
Chandler Laporte got the win in relief of Alex Jabbour. Noah Duckworth had three hits and Patrick Gallant two to lead the offence. Gavin Hickey, Connor McGregor and Connor Jones had singles.
Luke Robison took the loss for the Mudcats, who got four hits from Phillip Rail.
METRO 9, P.E.I. 2
Metro scored early and often and cruised to the 9-2 victory. Matt Savoie got the win on the hill with Keegan Adshade’s home run leading the attack. Jones suffered the loss for the Isles, who got two hits from Duckworth and singles from Pat Young and Nolan Hicken.
SATURDAY IN CHARLOTTETOWN METRO 4, P.E.I. 3
Luke Robison’s RBI single in the first extra inning was the winning blow for the Mudcats in a 4-3 victory in a game originally slated for five innings. Dominic Tardiff was the winning pitcher for Metro, who got two hits from Robison and Eric Ouelette. Hicken took the loss in relief of Gabe Penalver. Duckworth and McGregor each had two hits for P.E.I.
METRO 5, P.E.I. 3
When it was determined the outcome of Sunday’s finale would have no bearing on the standings, it was played as part of Saturday’s four-point contest rather than have the depleted teams play on Sunday. Colin Robichaud was credited with the victory in the 5-3 win for Metro, which received two more hits from Robison. Ben MacDougall was tagged with the loss in relief of Tanner MacLean. MacDougall had two hits while Duckworth, McGregor, Young, Brett Caissie and Garrett Hebert chipped in singles.