The Big Bill de Coaticook and Expos de Sherbrooke had the honor of kicking off the 2026 Ligue de Baseball majeur du Quebec regular season this past Saturday. They kicked off a very busy opening weekend of play which saw all 11 LBMQ teams in action to. open the season up. 

At Stade Julien Morin in Coaticook, the visiting Expos would get on the board first as they would plate a pair of runs to lead off the game. The Big Bill would answer right back with two of their own in the home half of the inning to tiew the score 2 - 2. After a scoreless second frame, each team would score a run in the 3rd inning to keep the game tied at 3 - 3 after three innings of play. 

Coaticook would claim their first lead of the game in the home half of the 4th inning scoring a pair of runs and taking a 5 - 3 lead. A peasky Sherbrooke team wouls anwer right back in the top of the 5th inning plating three runs and re-claiming the lead by a score of 6 - 5. The Big Bill would take the lead for good in the home half of the 5th inning as they would score for runs in that frame to tale a 9 - 6 lead. They would add an insurance run in the 6th inning to win this contest 10 - 6.

Simon Pierre-Soumis led the way offensively for the Big Bill going 1-for-3 with a double, a run scored and three RBIs. Jacob Carroll was 2-for-3 with a double, a run and an RBI while Xavier Langlois was 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI. Julien Castagnier-Charlebois was also 2-for-4 with a pair of runs while Kyle Hazel (double) and William Deschenes were both 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Ryan Bawart was 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI while Francis Beaudoin had a pair of walks and two runs scored. 

For the Expos, they were led by Kirk Fryer who was 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI. Ismael Ballard was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs while Samuel Rajotte was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Benjamin De Grandpre was 2-for-3 with a pairof singles while Philippe Dion was 1-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI. Hugo Beniot was 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored while Takuto Kanno was 1-for-4 with a run. Samuel Nadeau wrapped up the Sherbrooke offense scoring two runs. 

On the mound, Coaticook used four different arms in this game with Oscar Rodriguez drawing the start in this game. He would toss four innings allowing three runs (two earned) on 10 hits while walking none and striking out three. Yun Sinkeun would start the 5th inning and allow three runs (two earned) on no hits and a pair of walks without recording an out. Raul Rodriguez would follow him to the mound tossing an inning allowing no runs on two hits and striking out two in collecting the win. Sora Sakashita would throw the last two innings allowing no runs and one hit with two strikeouts. 

For Sherbrooke, Keisuke Takikawa would get the start and would allow five runs (two earned) on five hits. He would walk one batter and strike out five batters in collecting a no decision. Cedric Caron would follwoing him to the mound and toss one inning allowing four runs (all earned) on four hits while walking one and striking out one in taking the loss. Jose Lalancette would toss the final inning allowing one run (earned) on one hit while walking one and striking out two. 

Both teams now have a week to rest before they are back in action on Saturday, May 16th. Both teams will take on the Castors d'Acton Vale (1 - 0) in a day/night double header. First pitch for the Sherbrooek game will be at 2:00pm at Stade Amedee Roy while the Coaticook game will take place at 7:00pm at Stade Julien-Morin.