CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The P.E.I. Junior Islanders have tied their best-of-five New Brunswick Junior Baseball League semifinal with the Chatham Ironmen at one game apiece.
The Islanders took Game 2 4-1 Monday at Memorial Field.
Jonathan Arsenault went the distance for the victory while Mike McKay pitched the complete game for Chatham.
Arsenault was coming off a week of pitching and playing at the Softball Canada under-23 nationals in Quebec with the Kevin Quinn Re/Max Ravens. He threw more than 100 pitches Monday night.
“Right from the start, he was in control,” Isles head coach Dave MacIsaac said. “He ran out of a little gas late in the game there, but he showed his heart and was able to finish it off.”
The Islanders struck for two runs in the second inning when Riley Gallant drove in Jed Noonan with a triple. Gallant scored as Matt Barlow made it to first on a throwing error by second baseman Jayden Jones.
Gallant, who led the league in hitting last season, returned to the Isles midway through the year, giving a boost to P.E.I. lineup.
“It took him a while to get his feet under him again, but that was the old Riley there tonight hitting bullets all over the place and tracking the balls in the outfield,” MacIsaac said. “When you have hitters like him and Barlow at the bottom of the order that really lengthens your lineup.”
With the Ironmen threatening in the top of the fifth, Isles second baseman Ryne MacIsaac snuffed out the rally. After Nick Noel and Zack Newman led off the inning with back-to-back singles, MacIsaac snared a liner destined for right field off the bat of Matt Carrol and tossed to first baseman Kyle Pinksen for the double play.
The bench boss appreciated his squad’s defensive play.
“The first base play tonight with Pinky was fantastic, Ryne at second, Riley Gallant out in right field tracked some balls, Connor (McGregor) tracked some balls, Jed tracked some balls in the outfield,” he said. “It was one of the better ball games and they did the same thing. They tracked some balls, made some plays, just an awesome game.”
The Islanders doubled their lead with two runs in the sixth as MacIsaac, Pinksen and Josh Myers hit consecutive singles and McGregor hit a sacrifice fly.
P.E.I. has been proned to allowing teams back into games after getting leads during the past couple of seasons. It made the two insurance runs in the sixth critical.
“(We) got the big hits in that sixth inning to drive in those couple extra runs. It was all the difference in the world,” MacIsaac said.
The Ironmen threatened in the seventh, stringing together two walks, a single and a sacrifice fly before Arsenault got Zach Gosse to fly out to deep right field with the bases loaded.
P.E.I. lost the opener 5-4 in the bottom of the seven Sunday in a wild game in Chatham, N.B.
Game 3 is Tuesday in Chatham with Game 4 Friday in Charlottetown. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.
“Our big horse, the big furnace, Brett Hicken is going tomorrow night,” MacIsaac said, noting Hicken hadn’t been available for the first two games due to work commitments.
“You can guarantee he’s going to give you a good performance,” he added. “He’ll always battle and keep you in a game.”
