CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The P.E.I. Junior Islanders season is over.
The Chatham Ironmen used a five-run second inning to defeat the Isles 7-3 Saturday at Memorial Field to win the best-of-five New Brunswick Junior Baseball League semifinal 3-1.
Zack Newman picked up the win while Brett Hicken was tagged with the loss.
The home side scored first when leadoff hitter Jonathan Arsenault scored on a wild pitch.
The Ironmen responded in a big way in the second.
Newman got it started with a one-out walk followed by back-to-back singles by Matt Carroll and Trey Dunnett to load the bases. No. 9 hitter Jeremy Poole, who was a pain in the Islanders side all night, plated two runs with a single. Jayden Jones cashed in two more with two-out double and Mike McKay added an RBI single.
P.E.I. got one back in the fourth when Josh Myers, who rejoined the Isles after playing two games earlier in the day with the P.E.I. Youth Selects at the Canada Cup in Moncton, scored on Matt Barlow’s RBI single. Myers had led off the inning with a single to right field.
Islanders coach Dave MacIsaac was ejected from the game after arguing a called third strike on Jayden MacLean to end the fourth inning with two runners on. MacIsaac argued the home plate umpire should have asked for help from the third base ump on the call.
P.E.I. couldn’t retain the momentum as Chatham got the run back on Newman’s sacrifice fly that cashed Jack Cook in the top of the fifth.
The Isles kept battling, scoring one in the bottom of the fifth when Arsenault singled and scored on Myers RBI single, but left the bases loaded.
Chatham responded with a run in the top of the sixth after reliever Chandler Laporte was called for a balk.