Wet conditions on field postponed last night's scheduled game against Fredericton Royals

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By Sean Hatchard
Times & Transcript Staff

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How quickly things can change!

Less than a week ago, the Moncton Mets were marred by inconsistency, with just two New Brunswick Senior Baseball League victories to their credit in the first month of the season.

Now, they've climbed back up the league standings, thanks to a three-game winning streak. They sit just a game and a half out of first place.

"We're in a groove right now and we just want to make sure it continues," Mets head coach Sean Moore said last night.

"We've really improved in all three facets of the game -- pitching, hitting and defence -- in the last couple games. Our pitching has been fantastic, our hitting has been great and our defence has been solid.

"That's how you win games, right there. We've had two of those three things at times this year, but you're not going to win many ball games without all three."

Moncton hosts the league-leading Chatham Ironmen tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Harold Page Field in Riverview.

Last night's game between the Mets and Fredericton Royals in Fredericton was postponed because of wet field conditions.

Chatham sits atop the five-team league with a 6-3 record. Moncton is third at 5-5.

The Mets are in the midst of a busy stretch of seven games over 12 days. Moore called tomorrow's meeting with the Ironmen the biggest game of the season for his club to date.

"As far as I'm concerned, Chatham is the No. 1 team in the league, so to get a win (tomorrow) against them would be a huge momentum builder for us for sure," said Moore, whose team has lost all three games against the Ironmen this season, including a 4-0 road loss last week.

"They have played us tough, but we've given them good games, too. They've got every thing you need -- very good hitting, a great veteran pitching staff and I haven't seen any problems with their defence -- so you know they're going to be tough to beat this year, but I feel we're very capable."

Moore credits Moncton's strong play of late to an improvement in defence and a rise in production from the team's No. 3-4-5 hitters, import Eric Carsner, Serge Vautour and Marc Andre Pitre. Most notably, Vautour has been on a tear of late, going 7-for-8 (.875) and driving in seven runs in his last three games.

"We need our big guys to keep coming up with big hits like they've done in the last couple games," the coach said. "They've come through in big situations and drove in runs.

"We've lacked that against Chatham this year. We haven't had the right guy at the plate against them or we've had the right guy at the plate, but he didn't produce for us."

The Mets will send sophomore right-hander Ben Higgins to the mound tomorrow. The 20-year-old sports a 4-0 record and a 2.33 earned run average.

"Ben doesn't really surprise me at all. Last year, we kind of used him as a closer, but this year he's starting and he is definitely our ace," Moore said.

"Every time he goes to the mound, you have that feeling like you're going to get a win and that's a nice feeling to have."