Fredericton beats Chatham 7-1 in opening game of N.B. final

B7

By Bill Hunt
CanadaEast News Service

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FREDERICTON - You might say the Fredericton Royals were "battery powered" in their 7-1 victory over the Chatham Ironmen in the opening game of the best-of-five New Brunswick Junior Baseball League final last night at Royals Field.

Pitcher Troy Bishop tossed a five-hitter and fanned 13 and catcher Mark MacNevin gave him all the run support he would need with a two-run home run over the right field wall in the third inning as the Royals cruised to the victory and a 1-0 lead in the series. The second game goes tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Ironmen Field in Miramichi as the Royals move closer to a third straight provincial junior title.

"Wow," said coach Mike Keating. "Troy was as good as I've seen him since the night he beat us (in the provincial elimination tournament with the Fredericton Vikings in 2006) a couple of years ago."

Bishop actually gave up a single to leadoff hitter Orry Cook to start the game. He made a throw over to first that first baseman Matt Wood lost in a tough sun to move the runner to second, and a wild pitch moved him over to third. Two outs later, Cook scored on a Dennis Graham single.

In between all that though, Bishop struck out the side. He had two more strikeouts in the second inning and fanned the side again in the third. There was only one inning in which he didn't record a strikeout -- the fifth -- and he escaped the only real "jam" he faced, loading the bases in the seventh inning, by whiffing Cook to end the ball game.

"I had to get comfortable out there," said Bishop. "I hadn't thrown in seven or eight games and I had to get my stuff settled down. I felt pretty good after that."

"I think his stuff got better as the game went on," said Keating.

MacNevin, who caught the masterpiece and helped make sure it stood up with his third blast of the season, agreed.

"Troy's slider is by far the best in the league," said MacNevin. "You can't even explain the thing. It just moves incredibly. It'll go from one side of the plate to the other, you've got batters leaning on their front foot falling over. You saw it tonight ... it was just dancin'. It was probably his best performance all season."

MacNevin "is one of my best buddies and I was glad to see it go over the fence, that's for sure," said Bishop, who didn't get a chance to pitch at the national tournament in Charlottetown, but was next up if the Royals' would have had an opportunity to play a placing or a semifinal game, said Keating.

He called MacNevin, "the most improved hitter I've seen in the last three or four years," and credited the catcher with "cracking the egg" that allowed the Royals to break through against Chatham starter Cook and reliever Matt Montrose.

"I think we started pounding the ball after that," he said.

Exhibit A: MacNevin, who found himself in the cleanup spot in the batting order and did just that in the third after leadoff man and former Moncton Tim Hortons Cub Dave Crossman opened the inning with a single and, as is his habit, stole second base.

"I had both coaches (Keating and first base coach Brent Hallett) yelling at me to get my back shoulder up and stay within myself and I just kind of tried to stay focused on that," said MacNevin. "And I guess I just got lucky."

Royals scored three more in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth. MacKenzie Washburn had a run scoring single and Corey Hughes an RBI double to key the fourth inning rally and Scott MarFarlane had an RBI single in the fifth. It was more than enough for Bishop this night.

Royals will send Scott MacFarlane to the hill for the second game of the series tonight. Mound ace Dan Reid leaves today to return to Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College for his sophomore season.