MAGOG, Que. — It was a wild Friday for Team P.E.I. here at the Baseball Canada national 18-under championship.
The P.E.I. representative bounced back from two losses on Thursday to rally for an 8-6 win over Newfoundland and Labrador, and then held on for a wild 9-8 decision over New Brunswick in the day’s late game.
P.E.I. will play its final round-robin game against Nova Scotia on Saturday at 3 p.m., Atlantic time.
Prince Edward Island 8,
Newfoundland and Labrador 6
Matt Barlow of Summerside and Kevin MacLeod of Peakes delivered clutch performances for Team P.E.I. in the afternoon game.
MacLeod’s two-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning snapped a 6-6 tie.
Barlow, who scored what proved to be the game-winning run on MacLeod’s double, threw six shutout innings of three-hit ball.
He did not issue any free passes and fanned nine after relieving starter Kiersten Steele of Gaspereaux in the second inning.
Barlow (2-3, three runs scored, RBI), Stanhope’s Darcy Affleck (2-3, two runs scored) and Stratford’s Stephen O’Shea (2-4, two RBIs) swung hot bats for P.E.I.
MacLeod (1-2) finished the game with three runs batted in.
It was a back-and-forth game as P.E.I. struck for four runs in the bottom of the first inning for a 4-1 lead.
Newfoundland and Labrador came right back with a five-run second to go back in front 6-4, and P.E.I. made it 6-5 in its half of the inning.
P.E.I. tied the game in the fifth and then counted the deciding two runs in the sixth.
Prince Edward Island 9,
New Brunswick 8
New Brunswick led 2-1 after the first inning and the score remained intact until the top of the fifth inning, when P.E.I. scored three times.
The Island squad counted five more runs in the top of the sixth inning to open up a 9-2 cushion.
But New Brunswick answered back by scoring six runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Affleck (3-3, two runs scored, two RBI), Summerside’s Jay Oram (1-2, run scored, two RBIs), Barlow (1-3, two runs scored) and Dominique Ryan (three runs scored) keyed P.E.I.’s attack.
Matt Crozier of Kensington earned the pitching win, and Affleck picked up the save, stranding the tying run at third base in the top of the seventh inning.
