STELLARTON – The Pictou County Molson Canadian Albions dropped their first game of the 12th annual Stellarton Homecoming Tournament on Friday night to the Eastern Passage Pirates but then returned the favour when it counted.
The Albions rode the dominant pitching performance of Jamie MacLean to defeat the Pirates 5-0 in Sunday afternoon's championship game at Albion Ball Field in Stellarton.
MacLean rang up 13 strikeouts while giving up just three hits and walking two batters.
Albions' manager Chris Hatchard said MacLean had a good day on the hill.
"He pitched pretty well."
Mike MacDonald led the Albions' offence with a two-run double and Matt Purdy also doubled.
The Pirates are one of the top teams in the metro league with a 13-5 record in league play.
The Albions fell 5-3 to the Pirates in the first game on Friday night.
"We played just well enough to win, but they deserved to win," Hatchard said. "The difference was probably timely hits. We left the bases loaded a couple of times that first game."
In the second game the Albions showed a dominant performance all around as they blasted the Cole Harbour Cardinals 10-0.
Steve MacLeod was the winning pitcher.
The Albions got a scare in the final round-robin game as they edged the Bedford Outlaws 8-7.
"They came back from 8-3 in the seventh to give us a little run," said Hatchard.
Trevor Whynott led the offence with a homerun. Wesley Moser was the winner on the mound and Dwayne Russell picked up the save.
The top two teams in the tournament advanced to the final and that set up the Game 1 rematch.
"The tournament was a great success," Hatchard said. "All the teams want to come back. We had great volunteers, they made it happen."
The Albions are back in action on Thursday evening. They aren't home again for two weeks as they have this upcoming weekend off.
