FREDERICTON, N.B. — The Charlottetown Gaudet’s Auto Body Islanders dropped two more games Saturday to close out the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League (NBSBL) regular season on a seven-game losing streak.
The Isles (9-23) finished last in the five-team circuit and will play the fourth-place Fredericton Royals (15-17) in the best-of-five first-round series. No dates have been set for the series, but it won’t start until after the nationals, which are taking place this week in Miramichi, N.B., finish.
The quarter-final winner will advance to the semifinals against the first-place Saint John Alpines. Fredericton won six of the eight games with Charlottetown this season.
The Royals swept Saturday’s doubleheader with the visiting Islanders, winning the opener 5-4 and the finale 6-0.
In Game 1, Charlottetown took a 4-3 lead with a three-run top of the sixth, but Fredericton tied it in their half of the inning and won it in the seventh.
Thomas Hoyt threw a clean seventh for the win in relief of starter Colby Lyle and reliever Corey Wood.
Lyle allowed an unearned run on three hits and a walk in five innings of work while Wood gave up three runs on a hit and four walks in the sixth.
Jack Kraft allowed the winning run on two hits in the seventh. Starter J.P. Stevenson, making his debut with the squad this season, allowed a run on two hits and a walk in three innings. Charles MacLellan allowed three runs on five hits in three innings of relief. Stevenson and MacLellan each struck out four.
Corey Kavanaugh and MacKenzie Washburn each had two hits for Fredericton while Wood drove in two runs.
Grant Grady had a single and two RBI to pace the Islanders’ four-hit attack. Jesse MacIntyre also had a single and an RBI. Kraft and Nick MacPhail had the visitors’ other hits.
The Royals scored a run in the second inning of Game 2 and added deuces in the third and fifth innings before tacking on one more in the sixth.
Sam Morehouse and Isaac Edwards combined for the shutout. Morehouse allowed four hits and walked six in four innings. He struck out two. Edwards struck out three in three innings for the save. He gave up two hits.
Taylor Larkin allowed six runs on seven hits and six walks in the loss. He struck out three.
Wood had two hits, including a home run, and two RBI while Tyler Wiwchar had two singles.
Kody Matthews and Logan Gallant each had two singles for the visitors while MacPhail and MacLellan each added one.
