Not much to choose between top finishers in St. John's senior fastpitch league

The Kelly’s Pub Molson Bulldogs are the five-time defending champions, but the regular-season standings would seem to indicate there may be no clear-cut favourite as the Molson St. John's Senior Men's Fastpitch League gets ready to begin its playoff schedule next week.

The 2018 regular-season finished Monday night at Lions Park, where the Bulldogs blanked The Bigs 8-0 in a matchup of last year’s finalists.
That result gave The Bulldogs — who won five of their six games in August — a 16-7 record, the same as the 3 Cheers Pub Light Dodgers, and just behind the league-leading NTV Hitmen (17-6).
The Hitmen will take on The Bigs (5-18) in the 1 vs 4 semifinal, while the other will feature the Dodgers and the Bulldogs, with the latter officially carrying the tag of second seed since they were 4-2 in the season series between the two teams.
The best-of-five semifinals begin next Tuesday at Lions Park, where the Bigs and Hitmen will tangle in a 6 p.m. contest followed by the Bulldogs and Dodgers at 8 p.m.
The playoffs will break for the provincial senior championship (Sept. 7-9 at Lion Park) and resume Sept. 11.

Final Standings

Team               GP    W    L    Pts
Hitmen             23    17    6     32
Bulldogs          23    16    7     28
Dodgers          23    16    7      28
The Bigs          23     5    18    10
Jr. Canadians  20     2    18     4
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Top Hitters/Batting Average
(Minimum 25 AB)

Player, team                 AB    H    Avg.
Brad Ezekiel, NTV         42    23    .548
Kyle Ezekiel, 3CP          36    19    .528
Blair Ezekiel, 3CP          37    18    .486
Daniel Dalton, KPMB     29    14    .483
Nick Pittman, KPJC        25    12    .480
Jason Hill, 3CP               53    23    .434
Danny Mullins, NTV        59    24    .407
Colin Walsh, 3CP            62    26    .419
Sheldon Keough, NTV    38    15    395
Justin Gill, NTV               45    17    .378
Jeremy O’Reilly, NTV      51    19    .373

Category Leaders
Batting
Hits: Colin Walsh (26), Danny Mullins (24), Jason Hill (23), Brad Ezekiel (23), Stephen Strapp (21)
Jason Hill (92), (16), Kyle Ezekiel (15), Fergus Griffiths (15), Mark Lewis (15)
Runs: Justin Gill (23), Colin Walsh (19), Jeremy O’Reilly (19), Jason Hill (18), Danny Mullins (16), Kyle Ezekiel (16), Brad Ezekiel (16)
Home runs: Kyle Ezekiel (7), Jason Hill (6), Brad Ezekiel (6) , Danny Mullins (5), Blair Ezekiel (5), Mark Lewis (5)
Stolen bases: Justin Gill (7), Rylee Costello (5), Jordan Pomeroy (4), several players with 3
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Pitching
Wins: Sean Cleary (11), Lee Cose (8), Colin Walsh (8), Jason Hill (7), Robbie Greene (6)
Innings Pitched: Sean Cleary (98), Colin Walsh (74.2), Robbie Greene (68.2), Jason Hill (60), Mark Power (59.2)
Strikeouts: Sean Cleary (189), Robbie Greene (119), Colin Walsh (109), Jason Hill (92), Mark Power (88)
Earned run average (min. 25 innings): Sean Cleary (1.50), Blair Ezekiel (2.27), Jason Hill (2.45),  Robbie Greene (2.57) , Lee Cose (2.59)