The Fisher Cats extended their New Brunswick Senior Baseball League winning streak to five games with a 9-4 victory over the visiting Charlottetown Islanders on Wednesday at Kiwanis Park.
Moncton improved its record to 7-6 and moved into sole possession of third place in the five-team league.
All nine Fisher Cats batters collected at least one hit. They finished with 15 hits in all against Islanders pitchers Colin Arsenault and Brady Arsenault.
Oregon import Paul Raglione went 4-for-4 at the plate to lead the Moncton offence with a double and three singles. He drove in two runs and scored three times.
Serge Vautour added a pair of hits, including a home run, and two runs batted in and Sam Lund went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two stolen bases in the victory.
Fisher Cats starting pitcher Juan Ortiz (2-0) worked 4 1/3 innings to get the win on the mound - allowing three runs on six hits - before Glenn Marks came on in relief.
Colin Arsenault (1-2) started for the Islanders and was charged with five runs on six hits over three innings.
Jordan Stevenson and Taylor Larkin each had three hits, with Stevenson driving in two runs and Larkin scoring twice for Charlottetown, which occupies the league basement at 3-12 and has dropped eight of its last nine games.
Moncton struck for a pair of runs in the second inning to get on the board first, with Raglione delivering a run-scoring double and Tyler Walchuck cashing in another with a single.
Larkin cut the Islanders' deficit to 2-1 with an RBI double in the top of the third, but the Fisher Cats answered in the bottom half of the inning. Vautour belted a solo home run off Colin Arsenault, and then later in the frame, a pair of Charlottetown throwing errors led to two more Moncton runs for a 5-1 lead.
After the teams exchanged runs in the fourth inning, the Islanders looked like they might be able to get back into the game in the top of the fifth. A run-scoring single by Stevenson cut the lead to 6-3 and ended Ortiz's evening on the mound.
Charlottetown loaded the bases with just one out looking for more, but Marks induced a double play ball from Brady Arsenault to get out of the jam as the Fisher Cats rolled to the win.
From the Moncton Times & Transcript
