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by Darcey McLaughlin

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With a crack of Alan Hilchies bat in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday night, the Chatham O’Donaghues Ironmen completed their sweep of the Saint John Alpines and advanced to the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League championship series.

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Darcey McLaughlin photo

The Ironmen celebrate after sweeping the Saint John Alpines

They will face the Fredericton Royals, who finished off the Moncton Mets in five games of their series.

The championship final begins today in the provincial capital.

Chatham coach Greg Morris paid respect to the Alpines and said he was a little nervous going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

“I have a lot of respect for their team. Out of the four games, three of them could have gone either way.

You kind of get a bad feeling there when they score in the top of the seventh, but still in all I knew that we could come back,” he said.

Hilchie also said Saint John had a great team and he was glad to get the sweep.

“Our full intention was a seven game series with these guys because they had a hell of a season and we knew they were going to be tough and we played our best ball.

I tip my hat to them — they have a good young team,” he said.

The Ironmen not only got the win in Game 3, they did it in dramatic fashion.

After the Alpines went up 2-1 in the top of the seventh it looked like the series was going back to Saint John for Game 5, but the Ironmen weren’t about to let that happened.

Starting off the inning, coach Greg Morris put Adem Campbell into the game for Art Sanford, looking to get something going offensively.

Campbell would come through with a shot to right that would just fall in for a double. Morris immediately pulled Campbell out in favour of the speedier Kevin Bowes.

“A lot of koodos (to Campbell) for coming off the bench there and getting that double; that was clutch,” Morris said.

With Bowes on second, Andrew Burns would hit a pop-up next for the first out of the inning, but Nick Hardy picked up a base hit putting the ball into shallow centre, moving Bowes to third and putting runners on the corners for Derek Wilson.

He would come through with a base hit RBI as Bowes would come home from third to the tie the game 2-2 and keep the Ironmen alive.

Cue Hilchie. Down 0-2 on the count he would get the base hit. Hardy would come around from second to as the near capacity crowd came to their feet roaring and the Chatham dugout emptied in celebration.

Hilchie said he was just hoping to get some wood on the ball.

“The last three games I’ve been struggling and 0-2 I knew he was going to come soft and I just kept my hands back and hoped for the best,” he said.

Earlier, on the bench, Hilchie was one of the most vocal players, telling them they could come back. He said he knew his teammates had it in them.

“This series we’ve been down quite a bit here and there but we stuck with our guns and we’re starting to roll and everybody’s playing together,” he said.

Our full intention was a seven game series with these guys because they had a hell of a season and we knew they were going to be tough and we played out best ball. I tip my hat to them they have a good young team.

Despite the dramatic ending, the game itself was rather lackluster to that point. The Alpines struck early with Josh Ferguson picking up a lead off double off the wall in right. He would move to third on a bunt by Andrew O’Leary and come in to score on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Lavine.

That’s how things remained until the bottom of the fourth inning when Chatham catcher Jon Saunders hit solo home run to tie the game at 1-1.

Then, in the top of the seventh, Tom Vanwart would put the ball into shallow centre and Matt Beckwith would walk to put runners at first and second.

Ferguson would then hit an RBI shot to cash in Vanwart and take the short lived 2-1 lead.

Matt Jenkins picked up the win for Miramichi, going the distance allowing two runs and six hits while striking out seven and walking three.

Game 2 of the championship final is scheduled for Thursday at Ironmen Field in Miramichi at 7:30 p.m. The series moves back to Fredericton on Saturday and returns to Miramichi for Game 4 on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.