CORNER BROOK When the dust settled with a dose of rain on Little Diamond Jubilee it was a bunch of youngsters calling themselves the Royals who got the high praise.
The Royals, based out of Charlottetown and Prince Edward Islands’ AAA mosquito baseball champions, claimed bragging rights to the 2014 Atlantic Mosquito AAA baseball crown with a 2-1 win over Nova Scotia Sunday afternoon in Corner Brook.
The pesky diamond dwellers finished the tournament, hosted by the Corner Brook Mosquito AAA Barons, with a perfect 4-0 record in round-robin play to finish as the top seed and secure a spot in the final.
The Nova Scotia squad, with a 3-1 record in round-robin play, earned the showdown with the Royals in the five-team tournament played over three days.
Tanner MacLean was the big gun for the champions, tossing a one-hitter and only allowing three walks in four innings. He chalked up nine strikeouts in a dominant performance on the hill.
He proved to be the dagger on offence as well, stroking a single in a 1-for-2 outing and scoring the winning run for the Royals.
Alex Graham picked up the save with five strikeouts on the board for six of the outs he had in his two innings of work.
Aaron Gomes took the loss for Nova Scotia after allowing two runs on three hits. He never issued a walk over five innings and marked up seven strikeouts in going the distance.
Alex Roode belted a double to account for Nova Scotia’s only hit. He went 1-for-1 with a walk, scoring his team’s only run.
The host Barons finished up with an 0-4 record, a 5-4 loss to New Brunswick was one of the team’s best performances. The local squad opened the tournament with a 16-6 loss to the St. John’s Capitals — Newfoundland and Labrador’s entry in the tournament — before a 21-3 loss to Nova Scotia and 8-4 loss to Prince Edward Island pushed them to the bottom of the standings.
The Newfoundland and Labrador squad finished at 1-3. The provincial AAA mosquito champions lost 8-1 to Nova Scotia, fell 8-4 to the tournament champions and finished up with a 5-4 loss at the hands of New Brunswick in the final game of the round-robin Sunday morning.
Jay Miller made his presence known for the host Barons.
He picked up both the top pitcher and top hitter award for his team.
Miller, over two appearances, gave up six runs — two earned — in 4 1/3 innings. He never allowed a hit, only walked four batters and chalked up 11 strikeouts.
He finished up with a .700 average going 7-for-10 with a homer and two doubles. He drove in four runs and scored on four occasions.
The following is a look at scores for all tournament games:
Round-robin games
Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John’s Capitals) 16, Host Corner Brook Barons 6
Prince Edward Island 14, Nova Scotia 0
New Brunswick 5, Host Corner Brook Barons 4
Nova Scotia 8, Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John’s Capitals) 1
Prince Edward Island 3, New Brunswick 2
Nova Scotia 21, Host Corner Brook Barons 3
Prince Edward Island 8, Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John’s Capitals) 4
Nova Scotia 6, New Brunswick 2
Prince Edward Island 13, Host Corner Brook Barons 3
New Brunswick 5, Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John’s Capitals) 4
Championship Game
Prince Edward Island 2, Nova Scotia 1
