Brian Richard, who served as the league’s statistician for more than three decades, said last season was believed to be among the worst for rainouts at 32 postponed games, although there’s no official record for washed-out contests.
“We’ve never tracked the number of rained-out games (in the record books) over the last 35 years I’ve been doing the stats,” said Richard, who retired from the role at the end of last year.
This season, 11 games have already been rescheduled due to damp weather and field conditions. The bulk of those rainouts have come in the last couple of weeks, but five games in June were postponed. Those matchups included the Moncton Mets and Charlottetown Gaudet’s Auto Body Islanders, the Saint John AJ’s Lounge Alpines and Chatham Miramichi Honda Ironmen, the Ironmen and Mets, the Ironmen and Fredericton St. Louis Bar and Grill Royals, and the Alpines and Royals.
The Ironmen have been hit particularly hard by Mother Nature’s wrath lately, as they haven’t played a home game since June 15. Chatham was supposed to host Saint John for a doubleheader July 6 and visit the Alpines for a doubleheader July 13, but both were a wash.
The battle between the Mets and Ironmen slated for July 11 in Miramichi is now set for Monday, a month after Chatham’s last home date. The Royals and Ironmen have a make-up game scheduled for July 23, a month after the original date. Chatham’s home doubleheader against Saint John is now set for the evening of July 26.
There aren’t currently any make-up games penciled into August, as the regular season wraps up Aug. 10 before the Baseball Canada Men’s National Championships get underway Aug. 22 in Tecumseh, Ont.
The Royals (11-7) were knocked out of first place in the five-team league after losing both games of a doubleheader July 13 against the defending champ Islanders (13-8), who have played three more games than Fredericton.
The Islanders won 9-1 and 11-1 in the doubleheader, but fell 3-1 to the Royals Sunday in what amounted to a three-game homestand over the weekend at Victoria Park.
That said, the Royals remain one of the league’s hottest teams, with wins in seven of their last 10 games. Charlottetown has won eight of its last 10, while Moncton (8-8) and Chatham (5-7) have each lost six of their last 10.
The Alpines (4-11) have lost eight consecutive matches, and eight of their last 10 outings.
The Mets remain third in the league, while the Ironmen and Alpines are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.
Ironmen import Dylan Lester and Connor Hill of the Alpines are still sitting atop the batting leaderboard, with Lester recording a league-best .478 average with 22 hits in 46 at-bats. Hill has hit at a .472 clip, connecting for 17 hits in 36 at-bats.
Rounding out the top five batters are Luc Vautour (.451) of the Mets, Cole MacLaren (.409) of the Islanders, and former Ironmen import Jack Kraft (.397) of Charlottetown.
The league bullpen stats, based on earned-run average, are led by Moncton’s Matthew Donnison, who hasn’t given up a run and has held his opponents to one hit and three walks in eight innings of work over a three-game span. Donnison has also struck out 13 batters in that span.
In second place is Jackson Dekker of the Mets with his 1.43 ERA, followed by Jack MacKenzie (1.75) of the Islanders, Brody McDonald (2.19) of Charlottetown, and Ethan Smith (2.40) of the Islanders.
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