Astros’ 4-game win streak snapped by Glencoe in 7-0 loss

Although the sting of the loss was still on the face of Astros head coach Derek Smith after the game, he had a positive outlook and said his team had already accomplished one of their goals—to get into the top half of the championship round.

“We’re sitting right where we wanted to be. We said before the tournament that we wanted to get four wins and get into a double-life playoff situation—I think we’re there now,” said Smith. “There’s still a big game tomorrow, I want to get into that 2-3 game and play that Glencoe team again.”

Due to the shift of scheduling caused by the game, the Astros had to play back-to-back games. Right after beating Newfoundland Eastbound 11-3, they switched diamonds and jerseys and played Glencoe right afterwards.

Although Smith tipped his cap to the Force, saying they had a lot of good batters and pitcher Ryan Malot kept them off balance, Smith thinks his side can give them a fairer fight in a rematch.

“I think we can give them a better game for sure, we gotta get the bats going,” said Smith. “Their pitcher wasn’t overpowering, he was throwing some different speeds that were throwing us off a little bit.

“But I think they’re a beatable team. Obviously (though), they’ve got some sticks.”

In the third inning, Talon Thomas hit what he thought was a double to score what could have been the Astros’ first run of the game. That would have made it 4-1 in the top of the third.

But in a bizarre turn of events that kept the Prince Albert crowd confused for the next inning and a half, Thomas was called out for leaving the batter’s box too early.

That sent an agitated Smith to the plate to argue the call.

“I wasn’t too happy with that call, it was really a rally killer for us,” said Smith. “It’s a pretty bad call, they say he stepped out of the box. It’s pretty hard to make that judgement call with no lines there. The kid has size 12 feet, you gotta be all the way out of the box to be called out.

“That just kind of put a little damper on things there. It killed our rally and it just kind of went downhill from there.”

Astros 11 NL Eastbound 3

The Astros beat the Newfoundland-based team 11-3 in their second game of the day. The victory was the Astros’ fourth straight victory.

The Astros were down 3-1 after the first inning but ran the show after that. They piled on 10 more runs by the fifth inning, ending the game by the mercy rule.

Astros short stop Gille Lavoie was the player of the game, going 3-4 from the plate with two runs batted in and one run scored.

Cameron LeBlanc went all five of the innings, giving up three earned runs, six hits and striking out three. At the plate, he went 2-3 with three runs scored and one RBI.

They beat the Saskatoon Selects 10-3 through five innings as the mercy rule was put in place. The Astros had a slender 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth before they piled on five runs and ended the game.

Astros 10 Saskatoon Selects 3

Astros left fielder Hunter Boyer was named as Prince Albert’s player of the game. He went a perfect 3-3 from the plate and scored three times in the victory.

Astros Ryan and Riley Smith had identical stat lines, going 2-3 from the plate with two RBI’s and one run scored.

Calvin Napope pitched all five innings for the Astros, surrendering three runs, two of them earned, with three strike outs.

One last group stage game

Due to all the postponements caused by Thursday’s rainfall, the Astros’ (4-2) final group stage game has been moved to 10 a.m. on Saturday when they’ll take on the West Hants Nova Scotia Thunder (3-3). The playoffs will commence later on Saturday.

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea

by Jeff D'Andrea

Astros’ 4-game win streak snapped by Glencoe in 7-0 loss

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