Carillon Sultans perfect week gives team breathing room in MJBL

Four wins in four days has the Carillon Sultans sitting in a great position heading into the home stretch of games in the Manitoba Junior Baseball League.

The Sultans took down Winnipeg South 4-1 in a mid-week contest June 18, defeated Interlake at the league’s annual showcase event in Steinbach June 20 before back-to-back wins over Elmwood June 21.

Interlake and Elmwood had been part of the group nipping at the Sultans heels in the standings, but after the weekend’s action both teams were 5.5 games behind league-leading Carillon.

“The team is in a really good place right now,” head coach Don Meilleur said after the weekend’s action, adding the team has faced some good pitchers during their current seven-game win streak.

“With seven games left against teams that are chasing us, we cannot let off if we want that first-round bye.”

St Boniface is 3.5 games behind the Steinbach-based Sultans.

Winnipeg South, which have a overall run difference of minus-78 so far this season, gave the Sultans a bit of a scare. With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Carillon finally found some offense, with Ryan Powers starting the rally which saw the home team score three runs to clinch the game.

Drew Heide and Jackson Penner combined to throw a four-hitter while striking out nine.

The Interlake/Carillon showdown ended the day at the showcase event in A.D. Penner June 27. All of the Sultans’ offense came in the bottom of the fifth, as the team rattled off four hits and forced an error with two outs to provide more than enough runs for lefty Mike Lindsay, who pitched a complete game in the victory.

With three games in two days, Carillon and Elmwood’s arms were put to the test, with the Sultans passing with flying colours in a double-header the next day.

The Sultans took a 3-2 lead into the top of the seventh in the first game, only to fall behind by a run following an error, a walk and a batter hit by a pitch.

A Cody Wielgosh hit scored Jackson Penner and tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh after Penner stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. A pair of Ryan Powers strikeouts in the top of the eighth neutralized the extra innings runner for Elmwood, with a Dayton Christensen single scoring Brady Papineau for the winning run.

Cedric Lagasse pitched a complete game for Carillon in the second game of the back-to-back, striking out nine in the 5-4 win. Five different players recorded RBI’s in the win, as eight of the nine players in the Sultans line-up recorded at least one hit.

Carillon will be in Stonewall June 28 for a match-up with the Interlake Blue Jays. They’ll also play a double-header against Pembina Valley on Canada Day.