Correction notice: In Saturday’s Batter Up, we mistakenly wrote that Prince Edward Island coach Allison Macdonald “singled out catcher Peter MacLeod for his pick of player of the game.” In fact, Macdonald meant catcher Morgan MacLean.
This story has been corrected.

ALEX MCCUAIG
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Prince Edward Island might be the smallest province in confederation but they continued to play above their stature Saturday morning, beating Manitoba 5-0 in a game both teams needed to win to keep their slim playoff chances alive.
The Islanders came out swinging against Manitoba’s Elliot Desilets in the top of the first with leadoff hitter Brody MacDonald singling before eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly to put the boys from P.E.I. ahead by one.
The Manitoba Selects, though, had a chance to tie things up in the bottom half of the second when Jeff Burke reached first after being hit by a pitch.
After getting to second on a fielders choice, Burke headed to third on a passed ball at the plate. The throw to the third was wide off the mark and rolled into left-field.
Burke paused after sliding into the third and the base coach was urging him home but the stall was all the Islanders needed as the Manitoba player was tagged out at home plate.
P.E.I. doubled its lead in the third when Kyle Dougan rattled the right centre-field fence with a powerful shot and scored Alex Abbott who singled to lead off the inning.
Manitoba still had chances despite Andrew O’Shea’s not allowing a hit until the bottom of the fifth. The pitcher allowed five walks.
But Manitoba failed to capitalize and was caught twice attempting to steal second.
Desilets recovered from a shaky start by the mid-way point of the game, striking out five Islanders in the fifth and sixth innings, to keep Manitoba in the match.
P.E.I. blew the game open in the top of the seventh scoring three runs on one hit and an error after Desilets was pulled after walking two. Kyle Dougan put most of his 6-foot-4, 210 pound frame into a second shot to right centre that thundered off the fence to score two against relief pitcher Curtis Neskar.
Islander coach Allison Macdonald said the combination of his team playing well and their opponents not being able to count on luck to pull them out lead to the impressive win.
“Luck didn’t go against us this time,” he said.
Despite Kyle Dougan receiving man of the match honours, MacDonald singled out catcher Morgan MacLean for his pick of player of the game.
“He threw out three runners, made a catch against the fence and blocked the plate real well. We kept our runners on base, he picked theirs off.”
A dejected Manitoba coach Ryan Anderson said the ball just wasn’t dropping for his team.
“It’s a game of baseball and you need the balls to drop,” he said.
“Our pitching did the job all tournament, we started hitting at times but we just didn’t get what we needed – it’s definitely disappointing.”
Manitoba finished the rond robin with a 2-3 record while P.E.I. improved to 3-2.
As fate would have it, the two teams play each other in a consolation match today, 12 p.m. at Athletic Park.