D1

By Robert LaFrance

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The Perth-Andover Expos Midget AA baseball team outscored the Dieppe Cardinals by an aggregate of 9-2, but they had to settle for only one win in Sunday's home doubleheader played at David Moore Field near Southern Victoria High School in Perth-Andover.

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Robert LaFrance photo

The Perth-Andover Expos’ Ashton Francis was a standout player in the home team’s doubleheader against the Dieppe Cardinals. Here he battles to get a hit - and did stroke a single - from Dieppe pitcher Kyle Donovan who held the home team to three hits in the first game, won 2-1 by the Westmoreland County team. The Expos won the second game 8-0 led by a Billy Rae Rattray home run.

Robert LaFrance photo

The Perth-Andover AA Midget Expos split a weekend doubleheader against the Dieppe Cardinals with a 2-1 loss in the first Sunday contest and an 8-0 win in the second. Here Expos’ pitcher Aaron Williams throws a fastball to the plate as a Cardinals player on second base hopes for a hit. Cody Williams pitched the second game for the Expos, a 2-hit, one walk effort, and this time the Expos’ bats were working for an 8-0 win and a regular season record of 12-2.

In the first game that began at noon on June 28, neither side was able to put a runner across the plate until the game was two-thirds over. Perth-Andover pitcher Aaron Williams and Dieppe hurler Kyle Donovan kept the opposing sides off the scoreboard with fine selections of curveballs and fastballs and each recorded a three-hitter, but in the fifth inning Dieppe slammed a home run and sent home another runner to make the score 2-0 in the very well-played contest. The Expos' three hits were all singles, by Joe Sockabasin, Simon Fortier, and Ashton Francis who scored the Expos' only run.

The Expos didn't give up, although they clearly missed slugger Jordan Davenport who was away. In the seventh and final inning, Ashton Francis got on base, and was driven in by catcher Billy Parker. The home team just missed tying the game in the seventh but as a runner crossed home plate Aaron Williams was called out at first by first base umpire George Michaud in a very close play.

"Aaron Williams pitched well in the complete game loss," commented Head Coach Dana Davenport after the doubleheader. "He only allowed three hits, but one was a decisive home run in the fifth inning and we couldn't get our bats working."

In the second game Aaron Williams's older brother Cody took the mound and also recorded a complete game, this one with Expos' bats working well in the 8-0 win that Davenport called "a two-hit gem with only one walk" for the home team. The Expos had a four-run second inning led by Billy Rae Rattray's two-run homer. Catcher Simon Fortier had an RBI double, with singles coming off the bats of Ian Barclay, Aaron Williams, and Cody Williams.

Expos' fans will be able to see their league-leading team again on Wednesday, July 1, at 6:30 p.m. when the Woodstock Reds arrive for an exhibition game at David Moore Field; then the Expos will be on the road all of July including the July 10-12 Bubba Tournament in Fredericton. Their next regular season home game is Aug. 5.