Playing against Canada’s best
Stevensons, Doucette among pick-ups for host Chatham Ironmen at national championship
FREDERICTON, N.B. - Three Islanders, including a rightylefty combination of pitching brothers, will play at the Canadian senior men’s baseball championship next month in Miramichi, N.B.
Power-hitting infielder Dillon Doucette of Peakes will join New Glasgow brothers Jordan and J.P. Stevenson with the host Chatham Ironmen.
The trio of Charlottetown Gaudet’s Auto Body Islanders were among the nine players the defending New Brunswick Senior Baseball League champs extended invitations to for the Aug. 22-25 tournament.
Also joining the squad are catcher Mike Ivey, pitcher/outfielder Sam Lund and pitcher/ infielder Justin Cormier of the Moncton Fisher Cats, plus pitcher Andrew Case and first baseman Devan Thomas of the Alpines. Lefty Jay Johnson of the Alpines has also been invited but has not said if he will play.
Doucette has hit .320 with a home run and four RBI in nine games this season for Charlottetown. Jordan Stevenson, the Islanders’ undisputed ace, has logged a team-leading 56 innings – 22 more than the second-place pitcher – while sporting a 2.25 earned-run average. He has a 3-5 record for the 8-16 Islanders while striking out 53 in 59 innings.
His younger brother J.P. recently finished pitching professionally with the Dohren Wild Farmers in Germany.
The 10-team Canadian championship will also include the Fredericton Royals, two teams from Nova Scotia and one each from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Royals have lined up four pickups, including one from the Ironmen’s backyard in junioraged pitcher Zach Newman. The Royals are also adding junior middle infielder Adam Estey and a pair of Alpines in veteran southpaw Shaun O’Toole and third baseman Mark Phillips.
The Royals have loaded up with all-star type lineups before, but general manager Mike Lint told The Daily Gleaner in Fredericton there’s a definite upside to taking mostly your regular roster.
“Do you want to disrupt that chemistry or take who we can take – our Royals team with a few pickups – and keep that momentum going? We want to have a good positive vibe coming back from nationals and take a good run at a provincial championship.”
Cormier, O’Toole and Phillips all went to the nationals with the Islanders in 2016 in Fredericton, N.B. Charlottetown finished fourth that season, losing the bronze medal game to the host Royals. Ontario One defeated Ontario Two in the championship game.
British Columbia defeated the host Victoria squad 4-2 in last year’s final with the Fisher Cats losing 2-1 to Ontario in the bronze-medal game. The Royals, with Island lefty Brody McDonald on the roster, lost 5-3 to British Columbia in the 2017 final in Victoria, B.C.