Hurlers all pitch in as Caps take 3-0 series lead

St. John’s Capitals player-coach Mark Healy praised his pitching staff for its role in gaining a 3-0 stranglehold advantage in the 2012 Molson provincial senior baseball final against Corner Brook Barons.

The Winmar Capitals, attempting to win a 13th straight All-Newfoundland crown, defeated the Barons 6-2 Sunday after picking up 7-1 and 3-1 victories Saturday at St. Pat’s Ball Park.

The remaining games in the best-of-seven series are scheduled for next weekend at Jubilee Field in Corner Brook.

Game 4 is set for 2 p.m. Saturday. If Game 5 is necessary it will be played 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Other games, if necessary, will be played 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

“Our pitchers only gave up four runs in three games and you can’t do much better than that,” said Healy.

Healy said the Caps outpitched the Barons, played better defence and “got some real good two-out hitting for key runs. It was all pretty basic baseball.”

“It’s going to be tough for them to come back, but they are at home for the rest of the series and you know they won’t give up,” noted Healy.

“I’m not expecting a cakewalk. They haven’t played in the final for five years, so I’m expecting a pretty intense environment at Jubilee Field.”

While his team played superbly in the first three games at St. Pat’s, Healy said there’s room for improvement.

“The scores weren’t really reflective of the games. They were closer than that,” Healy said.

“I don’t think we can pitch any better, but we can do a better job hitting. We let them (Barons) off the hook a couple of times when we could have put the games away sooner. Still, you have to give some of the credit to their pitching as well,” he said.

Sean Janes tossed a three-hitter to pick up the win in Game 3 Sunday.

He fanned three and walked four batters.

Dave Oxford (4IP, 4R, 7H, 2W, 3K) took the loss. Colin Wood (2IP, 2R, 3H, 1W, 2K) pitched in relief.

Bernie Madden had two hits and plated two runs for the winners who scored once in the first inning, twice in the third and three times in the fifth. Brent Power and Gerry Stone, who drove in two runs with a two-out single in the third, each had two hits..

Player-coach Darren Colbourne had two hits for Corner Brook

Capitals 7, Barons 1 (Game 1, Saturday)

Veteran Bob Kent (1R, 6H, 5W, 8K) went the distance to pick up the win in the series opener.

Stone and Corey Ewart each had to hits for the Capitals, who broke the game open by scoring four runs in the third inning.

Myles Vincent (5IP, 6R,7H, 2W, 4K) took the loss.

Adam Warren (1IP, 1R, 1H) finished up for Corner Brook

Grant Kenny had two hits for the Barons.

Capitals 3, Barons 1 (Game 2, Saturday)

The Caps took a two-game lead Saturday evening with Mike Janes (7IP, 6H, 6W, 6K) pitching the win over Jason Kearley (6IP, 3R, 6H, 5K).

For St. John’s, Power had an RBI double and Peter Madden an RBI single. Mike Brake and Mike O’Neill each had two hits for the Barons.

St. John’s scored single runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings, while Corner Brook got its run in the third

.jbrowne@thetelegram.com